




a'' ,»"'’ 





ON ^ 

9j, cP^ ^ 


y V ^ 

o , ^ 

^ i> -Cr ^ ^ 


‘^o o'^ 


■i- ° '^'^. 

n7:,.''.o'^ ' A'»,T.’\#' . •% 

^ 0‘ s ^ C' \’ ^ ' - 

<\^ Or 



\0°x. 


> ll» ' ' 

^ « - ' 0> 




he ^ ^ 

f; .^:^^■% 1%^ 

4 O O N C 

<.' ‘ * >? ^b 0‘ ^ 

♦o ^ O () 


/?- 

b 1 ^ 

" xV ^- 

-o \^'^• ^ 

^0^0 \V V, „ ,, 

"/ ' A' 

^; <t 




\r‘ S^' 

cT* ,< V 


•s^'’ K r <b 00 A 
.0^ C ° ^ 'V A^ 

' v^ ; 


'A .0^ 

b> “ ' s ^ ^ 




'<r ■\'?‘''% 

s • b ^ 



'b//A0Mo" A'^ ^ 

-A . f< 

^ aN' c 

cT' .\V „ ^ z 

’ V- A > ' ' 

^ ..A b:.. . 

' 0 V, V, ,0 < '"'' / ,>(,'''' -x''^ 

> C' ' 'P 



.K^A.''" "'^0^ 

^ ^ o5 ^ ^ 

>. \V ^ 

, ^ C.* c^ ^ 

'b/. 0 s 0 OA ^ <A. ^ 

, ^C‘ \> ^ 

X ^ <5 ^ 

<* - r* \\‘ ^ ^ /K ^ 

Af> vA .AvilvA'T, ® 

t/> .A « a\w^//>7, 2, 



\0°x. 



0' 




s ^ / 

k V V ^ • 



b/x ^ s 0 v^ ^ ' 

A‘ V' ^ 

'A ■ ' r f^- x-'?' . A 

* A .* » 


" A- 

^ v/ ^ 

^q>^\oN ^ .V 

^ r-c<y\ . .:^ 


r aa,a:aa 







s ^ .\ O ^ 

^'' V " ' 1! • , % 





^ V 


b/. '*' ') N 0 ^ 




V 

00 ' 


ssS '^ci' 

>A ^ 


c,^ 




U'^'' A, 

ry _ a 





'’■^ A' 


>v' 



b »'' 'O’' 'o 

A' '' 

r. 

"A^ A A ‘=%^\\ 

^ 'A -b/. - 


S 





i ^ ^ ^ a 



• 



■""ci- oV'^ '^' 

. ■% .# s” .L!«, <?-. .0^ ♦ 


V 





vV 't,,. 


\ 







c» y 

ft 

^ ^ ^ r N ^ ' 

o O 

'• V, 

' ,c'?>^' * •«' 


N \X" ^ 



r^; 






\V t/> ^ 



\'- ^ / 




^ a -it ^ 


1> ^ -4 r^\' 

■ ^G 

. C 4> 

0 ^ ■> ^ 


O 9 V. 



o,V </> ^ 

aV => V/ 


>✓ 


,0 o 



O <1 








'' ri^ ^ 

^ ^ '^- ''' 8 1 \ * '' si'^ ~^/ 'l O ^ X' 









1 ' 





^'i- '^i * 

c^A t- 

\ ii ,) *^- ^ 9 I ' * *>. 


\ 


0 


^ , 0 - 


... °^'»,To^' /' . v%,,,. .. 



.\0°- 



o V' - X 

"•'■* ONO- <'^'''' 

>'_ V ® ■''' 


ri' 


>.' ■■>'-» c^ Ay „ :* xC^"’ 

.o^ s-" -., A. ■■ ^“ a' . , 








^ -v^^’ 


\V cA 
,^'^' -^z. 







“ Turan, the Slave I ” they cried “ Death to him ! ” 

IPas^e 301 ] 



THE CHESSMEN 
OF MARS 

BY 

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS 

AUTHOR OF 

AT THE EARTH’S CORE, 

THE MARS BOOKS, 

THE TARZAN BOOKS, Etc. 



GROSSET & DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS MEW YORK 


Made in the United Sutes of Amencn 





Copyright 

Edgar Rice Burroughs 
1922 

Published November, 1922 
Copyrighted in Great Britam 


54 6^0 5. 



Printed in the United States of America 


-2: 

^ THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 

PRELUDE 

JOHN CARTER COMES TO EARTH 

S HEA had just beaten me at chess, as usual, 
and, also as usual, I had gleaned what ques- 
tionable satisfaction I might by twitting him with 
this indication of failing mentality by calling his 
attention for the nth. time to that theory, propounded 
by certain scientists, which is based upon the asser- 
tion that phenomenal chess players are always found 
to be from the ranks of children under twelve, adults 
over seventy-two or the mentally defective — a 
theory that is lightly ignored upon those rare oc- 
casions that I win. Shea had gone to bed and I 
should have followed suit, for we are always in 
the saddle here before sunrise; but instead I sat 
there before the chess table in the library, idly blow- 
ing smoke at the dishonored head of my defeated 
king. 

While thus profitably employed I heard the east 
door of the living-room open and someone enter. 
I thought it was Shea returning to speak with me 
on some matter of tomorrow’s work; but when I 
raised my eyes to the doorway that connects the 
two rooms I saw framed there the figure of a 
i 


2 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


bronzed giant, his otherwise naked body trapped 
with jewel-encrusted harness from which there hung 
at one side an ornate short-sword and at the other 
a pistol of strange pattern. The black hair, the 
steel-gray eyes, brave and smiling, the noble fea- 
tures — I recognized them at once, and leaping to 
my feet I advanced with outstretched hand. 

“John Carter!” I cried. “You?” 

“None other, my son,” he replied, taking my 
hand in one of his and placing the other upon my 
shoulder. 

“And what are you doing here ? ” I asked. “ It 
has been long years since you revisited Earth, and 
never before in the trappings of Mars. Lord! but 
it is good to see you — and not a day older in ap- 
pearance than when you trotted me on your knee 
in my babyhood. How do you explain it, John 
Carter, Warlord of Mars, or do you try to ex- 
plain it?” 

“Why attempt to explain the inexplicable?” he 
replied. “ As I have told you before, I am a very 
old man. I do not know how old I am. I recall 
no childhood ; but recollect only having been always 
as you see me now and as you saw me first when 
you were five years old. You, yourself, have aged, 
though not as much as most men in a correspond- 
ing number of years, which may be accounted for 
by the fact that the same blood runs in our veins; 
but I have not aged at all. I have discussed the 


JOHN CARTER COMES TO EARTH -3 


question with a noted Martian scientist, a friend 
of mine; but his theories are still only theories. 
However, I am content with the fact — I never 
age, and I love life and the vigor of youth. 

“And now as to your natural question as to what 
brings me to Earth again and in this, to earthly 
eyes, strange habiliment. We may thank Kar 
Komak, the bowman of Lothar. It was he who 
gave me the idea upon which I have been experi- 
menting until at last I have achieved success. As 
you know I have long possessed the power to cross 
the void in spirit, but never before have I been able 
to impart to inanimate things a similar power. 
Now, however, you see me for the first time pre- 
cisely as my Martian fellows see me — you see the 
very short-sword that has tasted the blood of many 
a savage foeman; the harness with the devices of 
Helium and the insignia of my rank; the pistol 
that was presented to me by Tars Tarkas, Jeddak 
of Thark. 

“Aside from seeing you, which is my principal 
reason for being here, and satisfying myself that 
I can transport inanimate things from Mars to 
Earth, and therefore animate things if I so desire, 
I have no purpose. Earth is not for me. My every 
interest is upon Barsoom — my wife, my children, 
my work; all are there. I will spend a^quiet eve- 
ning with you and then back to the world I love 
even better than I love life.” 


4 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


As he spoke he dropped into the chair upon the 
opposite side of the chess table. 

“You spoke of children,” I said. “Have you 
more than Carthoris?” 

“A daughter,” he replied, “ only a little younger 
than Carthoris, and, barring one, the fairest thing 
that ever breathed the thin air of dying Mars. Only 
Dejah Thoris, her mother, could be more beauti- 
ful than Tara of Helium.” 

For a moment he fingered the chessmen idly, 
have a game on Mars similar to chess,” he 
said, “very similar. And there is a race there that 
plays it grimly with men and naked swords. We 
call the game jetan. It is played on a board like 
yours, except that there are a hundred squares and 
we use twenty pieces on each side. I never see it 
played without thinking of Tara of Helium and 
what befell her among the chessmen of Barsoom. 
Would you like to hear her story?” 

I said that I would and so he told it to me, and 
now I shall try to re-tell it for you as nearly in 
the words ot The Warlord of Mars as I can recall 
them, but in the third person. If there be incon- 
sistencies and errors, let the blame fall not upon 
John Carter, but rather upon my faulty memory, 
where it belongs. It is a strange tale and utterly 
Barsoomian. 


CHAPTER I 


TARA IN A TANTRUM 

T ara of Helium rose from the pile of silks 
and soft furs upon which she had been re- 
clining, stretched her lithe body languidly, and 
crossed toward the center of the room, where, above 
a large table a bronze disc depended from the low 
ceiling. Her carriage was that of health and physi- 
cal perfection — the effortless harmony of faultless 
coordination. A scarf of silken gossamer crossing 
over one shoulder was wrapped about her body ; her 
black hair was piled high upon her head. With a 
wooden stick she tapped upon the bronze disc, 
lightly, and presently the summons was answered 
by a slave girl, who entered, smiling, to be greeted 
similarly by her mistress. 

“Are my father’s guests arriving?” asked the 
princess. 

“Yes, Tara of Helium, they come,” replied the 
slave. I have seen Kantos Kan, Overlord of the 
Navy, and Prince Soran of Ptarth, and Djor 
Kantos, son of Kantos Kan,” she shot a roguish 
glance at her mistress as she mentioned Djor 
Kantos’ name, “and — oh, there were others, many 
have come.” 


5 


6 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“ The bath, then, Uthia,'' said her mistress. '‘And 
why, Uthia,’^ she added, "do you look thus and 
smile when you mention the name of Djor Kantos ? ” 

The slave girl laughed gaily. "It is so plain to 
all that he worships you,” she replied. 

" It is not plain to me,” said' Tara of Helium. 
^'He is the friend of my brother, Carthoris, and 
so he is here much; but not to see me.- It is his 
friendship for Carthoris that brings him thus often 
to the palace of my father.” 

"But Carthoris is hunting in the north with 
Talu, Jeddak of Okar,” Uthia reminded her. 

" My bath, Uthia ! ” cried Tara of Helium. " That 
tongue of yours will bring you to some misad- 
venture yet.” 

"The bath is ready, Tara of Helium,” the girl 
responded, her eyes still twinkling with merriment, 
for she well knew that in the heart of her mistress 
was no anger that could displace the love of the 
princess for her slave. Preceding the daughter of 
The Warlord she opened the door of an adjoining 
room where lay the bath — a gleaming pool of 
scented water in a marble basin. Golden stanchions 
supported a chain of gold encircling it and leading 
down into the water on either side of marble steps. 
A glass dome let in the sunlight, which flooded the 
interior, glancing from the polished white of the 
marble walls and the procession of bathers and 
fishes, which, in conventional design, were inlaid 


TARA IN A TANTRUM 


7 


with gold in a broad band tha?t circled the room. 

Tara of Helium removed the scarf from about 
her and handed it to the slave. Slowly she de- 
scended the steps to the water, the temperature of 
which she tested with a symmetrical foot, unde- 
formed by tight shoes and high heels — a lovely 
foot, as God intended that feet should be and sel- 
dom are. Finding the water to her liking, the girl 
swam leisurely to and fro about the pool. With 
the silken ease of the seal she swam, now at the 
surface now below, her smooth muscles rolling 
softly beneath her clear skin — a wordless song of 
health and happiness and grace. Presently she 
emerged and gave herself into the hands of the 
slave girl, who rubbed the body of her mistress 
with a sweet smelling semi-liquid substance con- 
tained in a golden urn, until the glowing skin was 
covered with a foamy lather, then a quick plunge 
into the pool, a drying with soft towels, and the 
bath was over. Typical of the life of the prin- 
cess was the simple elegance of her bath — no ret- 
inue of useless slaves, no pomp, no idle waste of 
precious moments. In another half hour her hair 
was dried and built into the strange, but becoming, 
coiffure of her station; her leathern trappings, en- 
crusted with gold and jewels, had been adjusted 
to her figure and she was ready to mingle with the 
guests that had been bidden to the midday function 
at the palace of The Warlord. 


8 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


As she left her apartments to make her way to 
the gardens where the guests were congregating, 
two warriors, the insignia of the House of the 
Prince of Helium upon their harness, followed a 
few paces behind her, grim reminders that the as- 
sassin’s blade may never be ignored upon Barsoom, 
where, in a measure, it counterbalances the great 
natural span of human life, which is estimated at 
not less than a thousand ’years. 

As they neared the entrance to the garden an- 
other woman, similarly guarded, approached them 
from another quarter of the great palace. As she 
neared them Tara of Helium turned toward hei 
with a smile and a happy greeting, while her guards 
knelt with bowed heads in willing and voluntary 
adoration of the beloved of Helium. Thus always, 
solely at the command of their own hearts, did the 
warriors of Helium greet Dejah Thoris, whose 
deathless beauty had more than once brought them 
to bloody warfare with other nations of Barsoom. 
So great was the love of the people of Helium for 
the mate of John Carter is amounted practically to 
worship, as though she were indeed the goddess that 
she looked. 

The mother and daughter exchanged the gentle, 
Barsoomian, kaor ” of greeting and kissed. Then 
together they entered the gardens where the guests 
were. A huge warrior drew his short-sword and 
struck his metal shield with the flat of it, the brazen 


TARA IN A TANTRUM 


9 


sound ringing out above the laughter and the speech. 

“ The Princess comes ! ” he cried. Dejah Thoris f 
The Princess comes! Tara of Helium!” Thtis 
always is royalty announced. The guests arose; 
♦he two women inclined their heads ; the guards fell 
bfc:k upon either side of the entrance-way ; a num- 
ber of nobles advanced to pay their respects; the 
laughing and the talking were resumed and Dejah 
Thoris and her daughter moved simply and natu- 
rally among their guests, no suggestion of differing 
rank apparent in the bearing of any who were there, 
though there was more than a single Jeddak and 
many common warriors whose only title lay in 
brave deeds, or noble patriotism. Thus it is upon 
Mars where men are judged upon their own merits 
rather than upon those of their grandsires, even 
though pride of lineage be great. 

Tara of Helium let her slow gaze wander among 
the throng of guests until presently it halted upon 
one she sought. Was the faint shadow of a frown 
that crossed her brow an indication of displeasure 
at the sight that met her eyes, or did the brilliant 
rays of the noonday sun distress her? Who may 
say! She had been reared to believe that one day 
she should wed Djor Kantos, son of her father’s 
best friend. It had been the dearest wish of Kantos 
Kan and The Warlord that this should be, and Tara 
of Helium had accepted it as a matter of all but 
accomplished fact. Djor Kantos had seemed to ao» 


lO 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


cept the matter In the same way. They had spoken 
of it casually as something that would, as a matter 
of course, take place in the indefinite future, as, for 
instance, his promotion in the navy, in which he was 
now a padwar; or the set functions of the court of 
her grandfather, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium; 
or Death. They had never spoken of love and that 
had puzzled Tara of Helium upon the rare occa- 
sions she gave it thought, for she knew that people 
who were to wed were usually much occupied with 
the matter of love and she had all of a woman’s 
curiosity — she wondered what love was like. She 
was very fond of Djor Kantos and she knew that 
he was very fond of her. They liked to be together, 
for they liked the same things and the same people 
and the same books and their dancing was a joy, 
not only to themselves but to those who watched 
them. She could not imagine wanting to marry 
anyone other than Djor Kantos. 

So perhaps it was only the sun tha:t made her 
brows contract just the tiniest bit at the same in- 
stant that she discovered Djor Kantos sitting in 
earnest conversation with Olvia Marthis, daughter 
of the Jed of Hastor. It was Djor Kantos’ duty 
immediately to pay his respects to Dejah Thoris 
and Tara of Helium; but he did not do so and 
presently the daughter of The Warlord frowned in- 
deed. She looked long at Olvia Marthis, and though 
she had seen her many times before and knew her 


TARA IN A TANTRUM 


iti 


well, she looked at her today through new eyes 
that saw, apparently for the first time, that the 
girl from Hastor was noticeably beautiful even 
among those other beautiful women of Helium. 
Tara of Helium was disturbed. She attempted to 
analyze her emotions; but found it difficult. Olvia 
Marthis was her friend — she was very fond of her 
and she felt no anger toward her. Was she angry 
with Djor Kantos? No, she finally decided that 
she was not. It was merely surprise, then, that she 
felt — surprise that Djor Kantos could be more in- 
terested in another than in herself. She was about 
to cross the garden and join them when she heard 
her father’s voice directly behind her. 

‘‘ Tara of Helium ! ” he called, and she turned to 
see him approaching with a strange warrior whose 
harness and metal bore devices with which she was 
unfamiliar. Even among the gorgeous trappings of 
the men of Helium and the visitors from distant 
empires those of the stranger were remarkable for 
their barbaric splendor. The leather of his har- 
ness was completely hidden beneath ornaments of 
pfatinum thickly set with brilliant diamonds, as were 
the scabbards of his swords and the ornate holster 
that held his long, Martian pistol. Moving through 
the sunlit garden at the side of the great Warlord, 
the scintillant rays of his countless gems envelop- 
ing him as in an aureole of light imparted to his 
noble figure a suggestion of godliness. 


12 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“Tara of Helium, I bring you Gahan, Jed of 
Gathol,” said John Carter, after the simple Bar- 
soomian custom of presentation. 

“Kaor! Gahan, Jed of Gathol,'’ returned Tara 
of Helium. 

“My sword is at your feet, Tara of Helium,’* 
said the young chieftain. 

The Warlord left them and the two seated them- 
selves upon an ersite bench beneath a spreading 
sorapus tree. 

“Far Gathol,” mused the girl. “Ever in my 
mind has it been connected with mystery and 
romance and the half -forgotten lore of the ancients. 
I cannot think of Gathol as existing today, possibly 
because I have never before seen a Gatholian.” 

“And perhaps too because of the great distance 
that separates Helium and Gathol, as well as the 
comparative insignificance of my little free city, 
which might easily be lost in one corner of mighty 
Helium,” added Gahan. “But what we lack in 
power we make up in pride,” he continued, laugh- 
ing. “We believe ours the oldest inhabited city 
upon Barsoom. It is one of the few that has re- 
tained its freedom, and this despite the fact that 
its ancient diamond mines are the richest known 
and, unlike practically all the other fields, are today 
apparently as inexhaustible as ever.” 

“Tell me of Gathol,” urged the girl. “The very 
tfiought fills me with interest,” nor was it likely that 


TARA IN A TANTRUM 


the handsome face of the young jed detracted any- 
thing from the glamour of far Gathol. 

Nor did Gahan seem displeased with the excuse 
for further monopolizing the society of his fair 
companion. His eyes seemed chained to her ex- 
quisite features, from which they moved no further 
than to a rounded breast, part hid beneath its jew- 
eled covering, a naked shoulder or the s)nTimetry 
of a perfect arm, resplendent in bracelets of bar- 
baric magnificence. 

‘‘Your ancient history has doubtless told you 
that Gathol was built upon an island in Throxeus, 
mightiest of the five oceans of old Barsoom. As 
the ocean receded Gathol crept down the sides of 
the mountain, the summit of which was the island 
upon which she had been built, until today she 
covers the slopes from summit to base, while the 
bowels of the great hill are honeycombed with the 
galleries of her mines. Entirely surrounding us is 
a great salt marsh, which protects us from invasion 
by land, while the rugged and ofttimes vertical 
topography of our mountain renders the landing of 
hostile airships a precarious undertaking.” 

“That, and your brave warriors?” suggested 
the girl. 

Gahan smiled. “ We do not speak of that except 
to enemies,” he said, “and then with tongues of 
steel rather than of flesh.” 

“ But what practice in the art of war has a peo- 


14 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


pie which nature has thus protected from attack?'^ 
asked Tara of Helium, who had liked the youngf 
jed's answer to her previous question, but yet in. 
whose mind persisted a vague conviction of the 
possible effeminacy of her companion, induced, 
doubtless, by the magnificence of his trappings and 
weapons which carried a suggestion of splendid 
show rather than grim utility. 

*‘Our natural barriers, while they have doubt- 
less saved us from defeat on countless occasions, 
have not by any means rendered us immune from 
attack,*^ he explained, ** for so great is the wealth 
of Gathol’s diamond treasury that there yet may 
be found those who will risk almost certain defeat 
in an effort to loot our unconquered city ; so thus we 
find occasional practice in the exercise of arms ; but 
there is more to Gathol than the mountain city. My 
country extends from Polodona (Equator) north 
ten karads and from the tenth karad west of Horz 
to the twentieth west, including thus a million square 
haads, the greater proportion of which is fine graz- 
ing land where run our great herds of thoats and 
zitidars. 

“ Surrounded as we are by predatory enemies our 
herdsmen must indeed be warriors or we should 
have no herds, and you may be assured they get 
plenty of fighting. Then there is our constant need 
of workers in the mines. The Gatholians consider 
themselves a race of warriors and as such prefer 


TARA IN A TANTRUM 


15 


not to labor in the mines. The law is, however, 
that each male Gatholian shall give an hour a day 
in labor to the government. That is practically the 
only tax that is levied upon them. They prefer 
however, to furnish a substitute to perform this 
labor, and as our own people will not hire out for 
labor in the mines it has been necessary to obtain 
slaves, and I do not need to tell you that slaves 
are not won without fighting. We sell these slaves 
in the public market, the proceeds going, half and 
half, to the government and the warriors who bring 
them in. The purchasers are credited with the 
amount of labor performed by their particular 
slaves. At the end of a year a good slave will have 
performed the labor tax of his master for six years, 
and if slaves are plentiful he is freed and permitted 
to return to his own people.” 

“You fight in platinum and diamonds?” asked 
Tara, indicating his gorgeous trappings with a 
quizzical smile. 

Gahan laughed. “ We are a vain people,” he ad- 
mitted, good-naturedly, “and it is possible that we 
place too much value on personal appearances. We 
vie with one another in the splendor of our ac- 
coutrements when trapped for the observance of 
the lighter duties of life, though when we take the 
field our leather is the plainest I ever have seen 
worn by fighting men of Barsoom. We pride our- 
selves, too, upon our physical beauty, and especially 


i6 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


upon the beauty of our women. May I dare to 
say, Tara of Helium, that I am hoping for the 
day when you will visit Gathol that my people may 
see one who is really beautiful ? 

The women of Helium are taught to frown with 
displeasure upon the tongue of the flatterer,” re- 
joined the girl, but Gahan, Jed of Gathol, observed 
that she smiled as she said it 

A bugle sounded, clear and sweet, above the 
laughter and the talk. ‘‘ The Dance of Barsoom ! ” 
exclaimed the young warrior. “ I claim you for it, 
Tara of Helium.” 

The girl glanced in the direction of the bench 
where she had last seen Djor Kantos. He was not 
in sight. She inclined her head in assent to the 
claim of the Gatholian. Slaves were passing among 
the guests, distributing small musical instruments 
of a single string. Upon each instrument were 
characters which indicated the pitch and length of 
its tone. The instruments were of skeel, the string 
of gut, and were shaped to fit the left forearm of 
the dancer, to which it was strapped. There was 
also a ring wound with gut which was worn be- 
tween the first and second joints of the index finger 
of the right hand and which, when passed over the 
string of the instrument, elicited the single note 
required of the dancer. 

The guests had risen and were slowly making 
their way toward the expanse of scarlet sward at 


TARA IN A TANTRUM 


11 

the south end of the gardens where the dance was 
to be held, when Djor Kantos came hurriedly 
toward Tara of Helium. claim — ” he ex- 

claimed as he neared her; but she interrupted him 
with a gesture. 

‘‘You are too late, Djor Kantos,’’ she cried in 
mock anger. “No laggard may claim Tara of 
Helium; but haste now lest thou lose also Olvia 
Marthis, whom I have never seen wait long to be 
claimed for this or any other dance.” 

“ I have already lost her,” admitted Djor Kantos 
ruefully. 

“And you mean to say that you came for Tara 
of Helium only after having lost Olvia Marthis?” 
demanded the girl, still simulating displeasure. 

“Oh, Tara of Helium, you know better than 
that,” insisted the young man. “ Was it not natural 
that I should assume that you would expect me, who 
alone has claimed you for the Dance of Barsoom 
for at least twelve times past?” 

“And sit and play with my thumbs until you saw 
fit to come for me? ” she questioned. “Ah, no, Djor 
Kantos; Tara of Helium is for no laggard,” and 
she threw him a sweet smile and passed on toward 
the assembling dancers with Gahan, Jed of far 
Gathol. 

The Dance of Barsoom bears a relation similar 
to the more formal dancing functions of Mars that 
The Grand March does to ours, though it is infinitely 


i8 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


more intricate and more beautiful. Before a Mar- 
tian youth of either sex may attend an important 
social function where there is dancing, he must 
have become proficient in at least three dances — 
The Dance of Barsoom, his national dance, and 
the dance of his city. In these three dances the 
dancers furnish their own music, which never varies ; 
nor do the steps or figures vary, having been handed 
down from time immemorial. All Barsoomian 
dances are stately and beautiful, but The Dance of 
Barsoom is a wondrous epic of motion and har- 
mony — there is no grotesque posturing, no vulgar 
or suggestive movements. It has been described as 
the interpretation of the highest ideals of a world 
that aspired to grace and beauty and chastity in wo- 
man, and strength and dignity and loyalty in man. 

Today, John Carter, Warlord of Mars, with 
Dejah Thoris, his mate, led in the dancing, and if 
there was another couple that vied with them in 
possession of the silent admiration of the guests it 
was the resplendent Jed of Gathol and his beautiful 
partner. In the ever-changing figures of the dance 
the man found himself now with the girl’s hand 
in his and again with an arm about the lithe body 
that the jeweled harness but inadequately covered, 
and the girl, though she had danced a thousand 
dances in the past, realized for the first time the 
•personal contact of a man’s arm against her naked 
flesh. It troubled her that she should notice it, and 


TARA IN 'A TANTRUM ig 


she looked up questioningly and almost with dis- 
pleasure at the man as though it was his fault. 
Their eyes met and she saw in his that which she 
had never seen in the eyes of Djor Kantos. It was 
at the very end of the dance and they both stopped 
suddenly with the music and stood there looking 
straight into each other’s eyes. It was Gahan of 
Gathol who spoke first. 

“Tara of Helium, I love you!” he said. 

The girl drew herself to her full height. “The 
Jed of Gathol forgets himself,” she exclaimed 
haughtily. 

“The Jed of Gathol would forget everything 
but you, Tara of Helium,” he replied. Fiercely 
he pressed the soft hand that he still retained from 
the last position of the dance. “I love you, Tara 
of Helium,” he repeated. “Why should your ears 
refuse to hear what your eyes but just now did 
not refuse to see — and answer?” 

“What meanest thou?” she cried. “Are the 
men of Gathol such boors, then?” 

“They are neither boors nor fools,” he replied, 
quietly. “ They know when they love a woman — 
and when she loves them.” 

Tara of Helium stamped her little foot in anger. 
“ Go ! ” she said, “ before it is necessary to acquaint 
my father with the dishonor of his guest.” 

She turned and walked away. “Wait!” cried 
the man. “Just another word.” 


20 


THE CHESSMEN OP MARS 


‘‘Of apology?’’ she asked. 

“Of prophecy,” he said. 

“ I do not care to hear it,” replied Tara of Helium, 
and left him standing there. She was strangely un- 
strung and shortly thereafter returned to her own 
quarter of the palace, where she stood for a long 
time by a window looking out beyond the scarlet 
tower of Greater Helium toward the northwest. 

Presently she turned angrily away. “I hate 
him ! ” she exclaimed aloud. 

“Whom?” inquired the privileged Uthia. 

Tara of Helium stamped her foot. “That ill- 
mannered boor, the Jed of Gathol,” she replied. 

Uthia raised her slim brows. 

At the stamping of the little foot, a great beast 
rose from the comer of the room and crossed to 
Tara of Helium where it stood looking up into 
her face. She placed her hand upon the ugly head. 
“Dear old Woola,” she said; “no love could be 
deeper than yours, yet it never offends. Would 
that men might pattern themselves after you ? ” 


CHAPTER II 

AT THE gale's mercy 

T ara of Helium did not return to her father's 
guests, but awaited in her own apartments 
the word from Djor Kantos which she knew must 
come, begging her to return to the gardens. She 
would then refuse, haughtily. But no appeal came 
from Djor Kantos. At first Tara of Helium was 
angry, then she was hurt, and always she was puz- 
zled. She could not understand. Occasionally she 
thought of the Jed of Gathol and then she would 
stamp her foot, for she was very angry indeed with 
Gahan. The presumption of the man! He had 
insinuated that he read love for him in her eyes. 
Never had she been so insulted and humiliated. 
Never had she so thoroughly hated a man. Sud- 
denly she turned toward Uthia. 

My flying leather ! " she commanded. 

‘‘But the guests!" exclaimed the slave girl. 
“Your father, The Warlord, will expect you to 
return." 

“He will be disappointed," snapped Tara of 
Helium. 

The slave hesitated. “He does not approve of 
your flying alone," she reminded her mistress. 

The young princess sprang to her feet and seized 
21 


22 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


the unhappy slave by the shoulders, shaking her. 
‘‘You are becoming unbearable, Uthia,'' she cried. 
“Soon there will be no alternative than to send 
you to the public slave-market. Then possibly you 
will find a master to your liking.’’ 

Tears came to the soft eyes of the slave girl. 
“It is because I love you, my princess,” she said 
softly. Instantly Tara of Helium melted. She took 
the slave in her arms and kissed her. 

“I have the disposition of a thoat, Uthia,” she 
said. “ Forgive me 1 I love you and there is noth- 
ing that I would not do for you and nothing would 
I do to harm you. Again, as I have so often in 
the past, I offer you your freedom.” 

“I do not wish my freedom if it will separate 
me from you, Tara of Helium,” replied Uthia. “ I 
am happy here with you — I think that I should 
die without you.” 

Again the girls kissed. “And you will not fly 
alone, then?” questioned the slave. 

Tara of Helium laughed and pinched her com- 
panion. “ You persistent little pest,” she cried. “ Of 
course I shall fly — does not Tara of Helium always 
do that which pleases her ? ” 

Uthia shook her head sorrowfully. “Alas! she 
does,” she admitted. “ Iron is the Warlord of Bar- 
soom to the influences of all but two. In the hands 
of Dejah Thoris and Tara of Helium he is as 
potters’ clay.” 


AT THE CALEBS MERCY 


23 


‘‘Then run and fetch my flying leather like the 
sweet slave you are,” directed the mistress. 

Far out across the ochre sea-bottoms beyond the 
twin cities of Helium raced the swift flier of Tara 
of Helium. Thrilling to the speed and the buoyancy 
and the obedience of the little craft the girl drove 
toward the northwest. Why she should choose that 
direction she did not pause to consider. Perhaps 
because in that direction lay the least known areas 
of Barsoom, and, ergo, Romance, Mystery, and Ad- 
venture. In that direction also lay far Gathol; but 
to that fact she gave no conscious thought. 

She did, however, think occasionally of the jed 
of that distant kingdom, but the reaction to these 
thoughts was scarcely pleasurable. They still 
brought a flush of shame to her cheeks and a surge 
of angry blood to her heart. She was very angry 
with the Jed of Gathol, and though she should never 
see him again she was quite sure that hate of him 
would remain fresh in her memory forever. Mostly 
her thoughts revolved about another — Djor Kantos. 
And when she thought of him she thought also of 
Olvia Marthis of Hastor. Tara of Helium thought 
that she was jealous of the fair Olvia and it made 
her very angry to think that. She was angry with 
Djor Kantos and herself, but she was not angry 
at all with Olvia Marthis, whom she loved, and 
so of course she was not jealous really. The trouble 


24 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


was, that Tara of Helium had failed for once to 
have her own way. Djor Kantos had not come run- 
ning like a willing slave when she had expected him, 
and, ah, here was the nub of the whole thing! 
Gahan, Jed of Gathol, a stranger, had been a wit- 
ness to her humiliation. He had seen her unclaimed 
at the beginning of a great function and he had had 
to come to her rescue to save her, as he doubtless 
thought, from the inglorious fate of a wallflower. 
At the recurring thought, Tara of Helium could feel 
her whole body burning with scarlet shame and then 
she went suddenly white and cold with rage ; where- 
upon she turned her flier about sc abruptly that she 
was all but torn from her lashings upon the flat, 
narrow deck. She reached home just before dark. 
The guests had departed. Quiet had descended upon 
the palace. An hour later she joined her father 
and mother at the evening meal. 

‘‘You deserted us, Tara of Helium,” said John 
Carter. “ It is not what the guests of John Carter 
should expect.” 

“They did not come to see me,” replied Tara of 
Helium. “ I did not ask them.” 

“They were no less your guests,” replied her 
father. 

The girl rose, and came and stood beside him 
and put her arms about his neck, 

“ My proper old Virginian,” she cried, rumpling 
his shock of black hair. 


AT THE CALEBS MERCY 


25 


^‘In Virginia you would be turned over your 
father’s knee and spanked,” said the man, smiling. 

She crept into his lap and kissed him. “You do 
not love me any more,” she announced. “ No one 
loves me,” but she could not compose her features 
into a pout because bubbling laughter insisted upon 
breaking through. 

“The trouble is there are too many who love 
you,” he said. “And now there is another.” 

“Indeed!” she cried. “What do you mean?” 

“Gahan of Gathol has asked permission to woo 
you.” 

The girl sat up very straight and tilted her chin 
in the air. “ I would not wed with a walking dia- 
mond-mine,” she said. “I will not have him.” 

“I told him as much,” replied her father, “and 
that you were as good as betrothed to another. He 
was very courteous about it; but at the same time 
he gave me to understand that he was accustomed 
to getting what he wanted and that he wanted yoiv 
very much. I suppose it will mean another war. 
Your mother’s beauty kept Helium at war for many 
years, and — well, Tara of Helium, if I were a 
young man I should doubtless be willing to set all 
Barsoom afire to win you, as I still would to keep 
your divine mother,” and he smiled across the 
sorapus table and its golden service at the undimmed 
beauty of Mars’ most beautiful woman. 

“Our little girl should not yet be troubled wWi 


26 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


such matters,” said Dejah Thoris. Remember, 
John Carter, that you are not dealing with an Earth 
child, whose span of life would be more than half 
completed before a daughter of Barsoom reached 
actual maturity.” 

‘‘ But do not the daughters of Barsoom sometimes 
marry as early as twenty ? ” he insisted. 

“ Yes, but they may still be desirable in the eyes 
of men after forty generations of Earth folk have 
returned to dust — there is no hurry, at least, upon 
Barsoom. We do not fade and decay here as you 
lell me those of your planet do, though you, your- 
self, belie your own words. When the time seems 
proper Tara of Helium shall wed with Djor Kantos, 
and until then let us give the matter no further 
thought.” 

“No,” said the girl, “the subject irks me, and I 
shall not marry Djor Kantos, or another — I do 
not intend to wed.” 

Her father and mother looked at her and smiled. 
“ When Gahan of Gathol returns he may carry you 
off,” said the former. 

“He has gone?” asked the girl. 

“His flier departs for Gathol in the morning,” 
John Carter replied. 

“I have seen the last of him then,” remarked 
Tara of Helium with a sigh of relief. 

“He says not,” returned John Carter. 

The girl dismissed the subject with a shrug and 


AT THE CALEBS MERCY 


27 


the conversation passed to other topics. A letter 
had arrived from Thuvia of Ptarth, who was visit- 
ing at her father’s court while Carthoris, her mate, 
hunted in Okar. Word had been received that the 
Tharks and Warhoons were again at war, or rather 
that there had been an engagement, for war was 
their habitual state. In the memory of man there 
had been no peace between these two savage green 
hordes — and only a single temporary truce. Two 
new battleships had been launched at Hastor. A 
little band of holy therns was attempting to revive 
the ancient and discredited religion of Issus, who 
they claimed still lived in spirit and had communi- 
cated with them. There were rumors of war from 
Dusar. A scientist claimed to have discovered 
human life on the further moon. A madman had 
attempted to destroy the atmosphere plant. Seven 
people had been assassinated in Greater Helium dur- 
ing the last ten zodes (the equivalent of an Earth 
day). 

Following the meal Dejah Thoris and The War- 
lord played at jetan, the Barsoomian game of chess, , 
which is played upon a board of a hundred alter- 1 
nate black and orange squares. One player has 
twenty black pieces, the other, twenty orange pieces. 
A brief description of the game may interest those 
E^rth readers who care for chess, and will not be 
lost upon those who pursue this narrative to its 
conclusion, since before they are done they will find 


28 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


that a knowledge of jetan will add to the interest 
and the thrills that are in store for them. 

The men are placed upon the board as in chess 
upon the first two rows next the players. In order 
from left to right on the line of squares nearest 
the players, the jetan pieces are Warrior, Padwar, 
Dwar, Flier, Chief, Princess, Flier, Dwar, Padwar, 
Warrior. In the next line all are Panthatis except 
the end pieces, which are called Thoats, and repre- 
sent mounted warriors. 

The Panthans, which are represented as war- 
riors with one feather, may move one space in any 
direction except backward; the Thoats, mounted 
warriors with three feathers, may move one straight 
and one diagonal, and may jump intervening pieces; 
Warriors, foot soldiers with two feathers, straight 
in any direction, or diagonally, two spaces; Pad- 
wars, lieutenants wearing two feathers, two diagonal 
in any direction, or combination; Dwars, captains 
wearing three feathers, three spaces straight in any 
direction, or combination; Fliers, represented by a 
propellor with three blades, three spaces in any 
direction, or combination, diagonally, and may jump 
intervening pieces ; the Chief, indicated by a diadem 
with ten jewels, three spaces in any direction, 
straight, or diagonal ; Princess, diadem with a single 
jewel, same as Chief, and can jump intervening 
pieces. 

The game is won when a player places any of 


:4T THE GALE'S MERCY 


29 


his pieces on the same square with his opponent’s 
Princess, or when a Chief takes a Chief. It is drawn 
when a Chief is taken by any opposing piece other 
than the opposing Chief; or when both sides have 
been reduced to three pieces, or less, of equal value, 
and the game is not terminated in the following ten 
moves, five apiece. This is but a general outline of 
the game, briefly stated. 

It was this game that Dejah Thoris and John 
Carter were playing when Tara of Helium bid them 
good night, retiring to her own ‘quarters and her 
sleeping silks and furs. ‘‘Until morning, my be- 
loved,” she called back to them as she passed from 
the apartment, nor little did she guess, nor her 
parents, that this might indeed be the last time that 
they would ever set eyes upon her. 

The morning broke dull and gray. Ominous 
clouds billowed restlessly and low. Beneath them 
torn fragments scudded toward the northwest. From 
her window Tara of Helium looked out upon this 
unusual scene. Dense clouds seldom overcast the 
Barsoomian sky. At this hour of the day it was 
her custom to ride one of those small thoats that 
are the saddle animals of the red Martians, but the 
sight of the billowing clouds lured her to a new 
adventure. Uthia still slept and the girl did not 
disturb her. Instead, she dressed quietly and went 
to the hangar upon the roof of the palace directly 
above her quarters where her own swift flier was 


so 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


housed. She had never driven through the clouds. 
It was an adventure that always she had longed to 
experience. The wind was strong and it was with 
difficulty that she maneuvered the craft from the 
hangar without accident, but once away it raced 
swiftly out above the twin cities. The buffeting 
winds caught and tossed it, and the girl laughed 
aloud in sheer joy of the resultant thrills. She 
handled the little ship like a veteran, though few 
veterans would have faced the menace of such a 
storm in so light a craft. Swiftly she rose toward 
the clouds, racing with the scudding streamers of 
the stomi-swept fragments, and a moment later she 
was swallowed by the dense masses billowing above 
Here was a new world, a world of chaos unpeopled 
except for herself ; but it was a cold, damp, lonely 
world and she found it depressing after the novelty 
of it had been dissipated, by an overpowering sense 
of the magnitude of the forces surging about her. 
Suddenly she felt very lonely and very cold and 
very little. Hurriedly, therefore, she rose until 
presently her craft broke through into the glorious 
sunlight that transformed the upper surface of the 
somber element into rolling masses of burnished 
silver. Here it was still cold, but without the damp- 
ness of the clouds, and in the eye of the brilliant 
sun her spirits rose with the mounting needle of 
her altimeter. Gazing at the clouds, now far be- 
neath, the girl experienced the sensation of hang- 


AT THE CALEBS MERCY 


31 


ing stationary in mid-heaven; but the whirring of 
her propeller, the wind beating upon her, the high 
figures that rose and fell beneath the glass of her 
speedometer, these told her that her speed was ter- 
rific. It was then that she determined to turn back. 

The first attempt she made above the clouds, but 
it was unsuccessful. To her surprise she discovered 
that she could not even turn against the high wind, 
which rocked and buffeted the frail craft. Then 
she dropped swiftly to the dark and wind-swept 
zone between the hurtling clouds and the gloomy 
surface of the shadowed ground. Here she tried 
again to force the nose of the flier back toward 
Helium, but the tempest seized the frail thing and 
hurled it remorselessly about, rolling it over and 
over and tossing it as it were a cork in a cataract. 
At last the girl succeeded in righting the flier, peril- 
ously close to the ground. Never before had she 
been so close to death, yet she was not terrified. 
Her coolness had saved her, that and the strength 
of the deck lashings that held her. Traveling with 
the storm she was safe, but where was it bearing 
her? She pictured the apprehension of her father 
and mother when she failed to appear at the morn- 
ing meal. They would find her flier missing and 
they would guess that somewhere in the path of 
the storm it lay a wrecked and tangled mass upon 
her dead body, and then brave men would go out 
in search of her, risking their lives; and that lives 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Si 

would be lost in the search, she knew, for she 
realized now that never in her lifetime had such a 
tempest raged upon Barsoom. 

She must turn back! She must reach Helium 
before her mad lust for thrills had cost the sacrifke 
of a single courageous life! She determined that 
greater safety and likelihood of success lay above 
the clouds, and once again she rose through the 
chilling, wind-tossed vapor. Her speed again was 
terrific, for the wind seemed to have increased rather 
than to have lessened. She sought gradually to 
check the swift flight of her craft, but though she 
finally succeeded in reversing her motor the wind 
but carried her on as it would. Then it was that 
Tara of Helium lost her temper. Had her world 
not always bowed in acquiescence to her every wish ? 
What were these elements that they dared to thwart 
her? She would demonstrate to them that the 
daughter of The Warlord was not to be denied! 
They would learn that Tara of Helium might not 
be ruled even by the forces of nature! 

And so she drove her motor forward again and 
then with her firm, white teeth set in grim determi- 
nation she drove the steering lever far down to port 
with the intention of forcing the nose of her craft 
straight into the teeth of the wind, and the wind 
seized the frail thing and toppled it over upon its 
back, and twisted and turned it and hurled it over 
and over; the propeller raced for an instant in an 


'AT THE CALEBS MERCY 


33 ? 


air pocket and then the tempest seized it again and 
twisted it from its shaft, leaving the girl helpless 
upon an unmanageable atom that rose and fell, and 
rolled and tumbled — the sport of the elements she 
had defied. Tara of Helium's first sensation was 
one of surprise — that she had failed to have her 
own way. Then she commenced to feel concern ~ 
not for her own safety but for the anxiety of her 
parents and the dangers that the inevitable searchers 
must face. She reproached herself for the thought- 
less selfishness that had jeopardized the peace and 
safety of others. She realized her own grave danger, 
too; but she was still unterrified, as befitted the 
daughter of Dejah Thoris and John Carter. She 
knew that her buoyancy tanks might keep her afloat 
indefinitely, but she had neither food nor water, and 
she was being borne toward the least-known area 
of Barsoom. Perliaps it would be better to land 
immediately and await the coming of the searchers, 
rather than to allow herself to be carried still further 
from Helium, thus greatly reducing the chances of 
early discovery; but when she dropped toward the 
ground she discovered that the violence of the wind 
rendered an attempt to land tantamount to destruc- 
tion and she rose again, rapidly. 

Carried along a few hundred feet above the 
ground she was better able to appreciate the Titanic 
proportions of the storm than when she had flown 
in the comparative serenity of the zone above the 


g4 the chessmen of mars 


clouds, for now she could distinctly see the effect 
of the wind upon the surface of Barsoom. The air 
was filled with dust and flying bits of vegetation and 
when the storm carried her across an irrigated area 
of farm land she saw great trees and stone walls 
and buildings lifted high in air and scattered broad- 
cast over the devastated country; and then she was 
carried swiftly on to other sights that forced in 
upon her consciousness a rapidly growing convic- 
tion that after all Tara of Helium was a very small 
and insignificant and helpless person. It was quite » 
a shock to her self-pride while it lasted, and toward 
evening she was ready to believe that it was going 
to last forever. There had been no abatement in 
the ferocity of the tempest, nor was there indica- 
tion of any. She could only guess at the distance 
she had been carried for she could not believe in the 
correctness of the high figures that had been piled 
upon the record of her odometer. They seemed un- 
believable and yet, had she known it, they were 
quite true — in twelve hours she had flown and been 
carried by the storm full seven thousand haads. Just 
before dark she was carried over one of the deserted 
cities of ancient Mars. It was Torquas, but she 
did not know it. Had she, she might readily have 
been forgiven for abandoning the last vestige of 
hope, for to the people of Helium Torquas seems as 
remote as do the South Sea Islands to us. And still 
the tempest, its fury unabated, bore her on. 


AT THE CALEBS MERCY 


35 


All that night she hurtled through the dark be- 
neath the clouds, or rose to race through the moon- 
lit void beneath the glory of Barsoom’s two satellites. 
She was cold and hungry and altogether miserable, 
but her brave little spirit refused to admit that hei 
plight was hopeless even though reason proclaimed 
the truth. Her reply to reason, sometimes spoken 
aloud in sudden defiance, recalled the Spartan stub- 
bornness of her sire in the face of certain annihila- 
tion : “ I still live ! ’’ 

That morning there had been an early visitor at 
the palace of The Warlord. It was Gahan, Jed 
of Gathol. He had arrived shortly after the ab- 
sence of Tara of Helium had been noted, and in 
the excitement he had remained unannounced until 
John Carter had happened upon him in the great 
reception corridor of the palace as The Warlord 
was hurrying out to arrange for the dispatch of 
ships in search of his daughter. 

Gahan read the concern upon the face of The 
Warlord. ‘‘Forgive me if I intrude, John Carter,’' 
he said. “ I but came to ask the indulgence of an- 
other day since it would be foolhardy to attempt to 
navigate a ship in such a storm.” 

“Remain, Gahan, a welcome guest until you 
choose to leave us,” replied The Warlord; “but you 
must forgive any seeming inattention upon the part 
of Helium imtil my daughter is restored to us.” 


36 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


*‘Your daughter! Restored! What do you 
mean ? ” exclaimed the Gatholian. “ I do not under- 
stand.’* 

“ She is gone, together with her light flier. That 
is all we know. We can only assume that she de- 
cided to fly before the morning meal and was caught 
in the clutches of the tempest. You will^ pardon 
me, Gahan, if I leave you abruptly — I am arrang- 
ing to send ships in search of her;” but Gahan, Jed 
of Gathol, was already speeding in the direction 
of the palace gate. There he leaped upon a wait- 
ing thoat and followed by two warriors in the metal 
of Gathol, he dashed through the avenues of Helium 
toward the palace that had been set aside for Sus 
oatertainmcnt 


CHAPTER III 

THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


ABOVE the roof of the palace that housed the 
/jLJed of Gathol and his entourage, the cruiser 
Vanator tore at her stout moorings. The groaning 
tackle bespoke the mad fury of the gale, while the 
worried faces of those members of the crew whose 
duties demanded their presence on the straining 
craft gave corroborative evidence of the gravity of 
the situation. Only stout lashings prevented thesNB 
men from being swept from the deck, while thos0 
upon the roof below were constantly compelled to 
cling to rails and stanchions to save themselves from 
being carried away by each new burst of meteoric 
fury. Upon the prow of the Vanator was painted 
the device of Gathol, but no pennants were displayed 
in the upper works since the storm had carried away 
several in rapid succession, just as it seemed to the 
watching men that it must carry away the ship itself. 
They could not believe that any tackle could with- 
stand for long this Titanic force. To each of the 
twelve lashings clung a brawny warrior with drawn 
short-sword. Had but a single mooring given to 
the power of the tempest eleven short-swords would 
have cut the others; since, partially moored, the ship 
37 


38 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


was doomed, while free in the tempest it stood at 
least some slight chance for life. 

“ By the blood of Issus, I believe they will hold I ” 
screamed one warrior to another. 

“And they do not hold may the spirits of our 
ancestors reward the brave warriors upon the Van<i^ 
tory replied another of those upon the roof of the 
palace, “ for it will not be long from the moment 
her cables part before her crew dons the leather of 
the dead; but yet, Tanus, I believe they will hold. 
Give thanks at least that we did not sail before the 
tempest fell, since now each of us has a chance 
to live.” 

“ Yes,” replied Tanus, “ I should hate to be abroad 
today upon the stoutest ship that sails the Bar- 
soomian sky.” 

It was then that Gahan the Jed appeared upon 
the roof. With him were the balance of hb own 
party and a dozen warriors of Helium. The young 
chief turned to his followers. 

“I sail at once upon the Vanatory he said, “in 
search of Tara of Helium who is thought to have 
been carried away upon a one-man flier by the 
storm. I do not need to explain to you the slender 
chances the Vanator has to withstand the fury of 
the tempest, nor will I order you to your deaths. 
Let those who wish remain behind without dis- 
honor. The others will follow me,” and he leaped 
for the rope ladder that lashed wildly in the gale. 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


39 


The first man to follow him was Tanus and when 
the last reached the deck of the cruiser there re- 
mained upon the palace roof only the twelve war- 
riors of Helium, who, with naked swords, had taken 
the posts of the Gatholians at the moorings. 

Not a single warrior who had remained aboard 
the V amt or would leave her now. 

“I expected no less,’’ said Gahan, as with the 
help of those already on the deck he and the others 
found secure lashings. The commander of the 
Vanator shook his head. He loved his trim craft, 
the pride of her class in the little navy of Gathol. 
It was of her he thought — not of himself. He 
saw her lying torn and twisted upon the ochre 
vegetation of some distant sea-bottom, to be pres- 
ently overrun and looted by some savage, green 
horde. He looked at Gahan. 

‘‘Are you ready, San Tothis?” asked the jed. 

‘"All is ready.” 

‘‘ Then cut away ! ” 

Word was passed across the deck and over the 
side to the Heliumetic warriors below that at the 
third gun they were to cut away. Twelve keen 
swords must strike simultaneously and with equal 
power, and each must sever completely and instantly 
three strands of heavy cable that no loose end foul- 
ing a block bring immediate disaster upon the 
Vanator, 

Boom! The voice of the signal gun rolled down 


40 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


through the screaming wind to the twelve warriors 
upon the roof. Boom! Twelve swords were raised 
above twelve brawny shoulders. Boom! Twelve 
keen edges severed twelve complaining moorings, 
clean and as one. 

The Vanator, her propellors whirling, shot for- 
ward with the storm. The tempest struck her in 
the stern as with a mailed fist and stood the great 
ship upon her nose, and then it caught her and 
spun her as a child’s top spins ; and 'upon the palace 
roof the twelve men looked on in silent helpless- 
ness and prayed for the souls of the brave war- 
riors who were going to their death. And others 
saw, from Helium’s lofty landing stages and from 
a thousand hangars upon a thousand roofs ; but only 
for an instant did the preparations stop that would 
send other brave men into the frightful maelstrom 
of that apparently hopeless search, for such is the 
courage of the warriors of Barsoom. 

But the Vanator did not fall to the ground, within 
sight of the city at least, though as long as the 
watchers could see her never for an instant did she 
rest upon an even keel. Sometime she lay upon one 
side or the other, or again she hurtled along keel 
up, or rolled over and over, or stood upon her nose 
or her tail at the caprice of the great force that 
carried her along. And the watchers saw that this 
great ship was merely being blown away with the 
other bits of debris great and small that filled the 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


41 


sky. Never in the memory of man or the annals 
of recorded history had such a storm raged across 
the face of Barsoom. 

And in another instant was the Vanator forgot- 
ten as the lofty, scarlet tower that had marked 
Lesser Helium for ages crashed to ground, carrying 
death and demolition upon the city beneath. Panic 
reigned. A fire broke out in the ruins. The city’s 
every force seemed crippled, and it was then that 
The Warlord ordered the men that were about to 
set forth in search of Tara of Helium to devote 
their energies to the salvation of the city, for he 
too had witnessed the start of the Vanator and real- 
ized the futility of wasting men who were needed 
sorely if Lesser Helium was to be saved from utter 
destruction. 

Shortly after noon of the second day the storm 
commenced to abate, and before the sun went down, 
the little craft upon which Tara of Helium had 
hovered between life and death these many hours 
drifted slowly before a gentle breeze above a land- 
scape of rolling hills that once had been lofty moun- 
tains upon a Martian continent. The girl was ex- 
hausted from loss of sleep, from lack of food and 
drink, and from the nervous reaction consequent to 
the terrifying experiences through which she had 
passed. In the near distance, just topping an inter- 
vening hill, she caught a momentary glimpse of what 
appeared to be a dome-capped tower. Quickly she 


42 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


dropped the flier until the hill shut it off from the 
view of the possible occupants of the structure she 
had seen. The tower meant to her the habitation of 
man, suggesting the presence of water and, perhaps, 
of food. If the tower was the deserted relic of a 
bygone age she would scarcely find food there, but 
there was still a chance that there might be water. 
If it was inhabited, then must her approach be 
cautious, for only enemies might be expected to abide 
in so far distant a land. Tara of Helium knew that 
she must be far from the twin cities of her grand- 
father’s empire, but had she guessed within even 
a thousand haads of the reality, she had been 
stunned by realization of the utter hopelessness of 
her state. 

Keeping the craft low, for the buoyancy tanks 
were still intact, the girl skimmed the ground until 
the gently-moving wind had carried her to the side 
of the last hill that intervened between her and the 
structure she had thought a man-built tower. Here 
she brought the flier to the ground among some 
stunted trees, and dragging it beneath one where it 
might be somewhat hidden from craft passing above, 
she made it fast and set forth to reconnoiter. Like 
most women of her class she was armed only with 
a single slender blade, so that in such an emergency 
as now confronted her she must depend almost 
solely upon her cleverness in remaining undiscovered 
by enemies. With utmost caution she crept warily 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


43 


toward the crest of the hill, taking advantage of 
every natural screen that the landscape afforded to 
conceal her approach from possible observers ahead, 
while momentarily she cast quick glances rearward 
lest she be taken by surprise from that quarter. 

She came at last to the summit, where, from the 
concealment of a low bush, she could see what lay 
beyond. Beneath her spread a beautiful valley sur- 
rounded by low hills. Dotting it were numerous 
circular towers, dome-capped, and surrounding each 
tower was a stone wall enclosing several acres of 
ground. The valley appeared to be in a high state 
of cultivation. Upon the opposite side of the hill 
and just beneath her was a tower and enclosure. 
It was the roof of the former that had first attracted 
her attention. In all respects it seemed identical in 
construction with those further out in the valley — a 
high, plastered wall of massive construction sur- 
rounding a similarly constructed tower, upon whose 
gray surface was painted in vivid colors a strange 
device. The towers were about forty sofads in 
diameter, approximately forty earth-feet, and sixty 
in height to the base of the dome. To an Earth 
man they would have immediately suggested the 
silos in which dairy farmers store ensilage for their 
herds; but closer scrutiny, revealing an occasional 
embrasured opening together with the strange con- 
struction of the domes, would have altered such a 
conclusion. Tara of Helium saw that the domes 


44 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


seemed to be faced with innumerable prisms of glass, 
those that were exposed to the declining sun scintil- 
lating so gorgeously as to remind her suddenly of 
the magnificent trappings of Gahan of Gathol. As 
she thought of the man she shook her head angrily, 
and moved cautiously forward a foot or two that 
she might get a less obstructed view of the nearer 
tower and its enclosure. 

As Tara of Helium looked down into the en- 
closure surrounding the nearest tower, her brows 
contracted momentarily in frowning surprise, and 
then her eyes went wide in an expression of in- 
credulity tinged with horror, for what she saw was 
a score or two of human bodies — naked and head- 
less. For a long moment she watched, breathless; 
unable to believe the evidence of her own eyes — 
that these grewsome things moved and had life! 
She saw them crawling about on hands and knees 
over and across one another, searching about with 
their fingers. And she saw some of them at troughs, 
for which the others seemed to be searching, and 
those at the troughs were taking something from 
these receptacles and apparently putting it in a hole 
where their necks should have been. They were not 
far beneath her — she could see them distinctly and 
she saw that there were the bodies of both men and 
women, and that they were beautifully proportioned, 
and that their skin was similar to hers, but of a 
slightly lighter red. At first she had thought that 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


45 


she was looking upon a shambles and that the bodies, 
but recently decapitated, were moving under the im- 
pulse of muscular reaction; but presently she real- 
ized that this was their normal condition. The 
horror of them fascinated her, so that she could 
scarce take her eyes from them. It was evident 
from their groping hands that they were eyeless, 
and their sluggish movements suggested a rudi- 
mentary nervous system and a correspondingly 
minute brain. The girl wondered how they sub- 
sisted for she could not, even by the wildest stretch 
of imagination, picture these imperfect creatures as 
intelligent tillers of the soil. Yet that the soil of 
the valley was tilled was evident and that these 
things had food was equally so. But who tilled the 
soil ? Who kept and fed these unhappy things, and 
for what purpose? It was an enigma beyond her 
powers of deduction. 

The sight of food aroused again a consciousness 
of her own gnawing hunger and the thirst that 
parched her throat. She could see both food and 
water within the enclosure ; but would she dare enter 
even should she find means of ingress ? She doubted 
it, since the very thought of possible contact with 
these grewsome creatures sent a shudder through 
her frame. 

Then her eyes wandered again out across the 
valley until presently they picked out what appeared 
to be a tiny stream winding its way through the 


46 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


center of the farm lands — a strange sight upon 
Barsoom. Ah, if it were but water! Then might 
she hope with a real hope, for the fields would give 
her sustenance which she could gain by night, while 
by day she hid among the surrounding hills, and 
sometime, yes, sometime she knew, the searchers 
would come, for John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, 
would never cease to search for his daughter until 
every square haad of the planet had been combed 
again and again. She knew him and she knew the 
warriors of Helium and so she knew that could she 
but manage to escape harm until they came, they 
would indeed come at last. 

She would have to wait until dark before she dare 
venture into the valley, and in the meantime she 
thought it well to search out a place of safety nearby 
where she might be reasonably safe from savage 
beasts. It was possible that the district was free 
from carnivora, but one might never be sure in a: 
strange land. As she was about to withdraw behind 
the brow of the hill her attention was again attracted 
to the enclosure below. Two figures had emerged 
from the tower. Their beautiful bodies seemed 
identical with those of the headless creatures among 
which they moved, but the newcomers were not 
headless. Upon their shoulders were heads that 
seemed human, yet which the girl intuitively sensed 
were not human. They were just a trifle too far 
away for her to see theni distinctly in the waning 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


47 


light of the dying day, but she knew that they were 
too large, they were out of proportion to the per- 
fectly proportioned bodies, and they were oblate in 
form. She could see that the men wore some man- 
ner of harness to which were slung the customary 
long-sword and short-sword of the Barsoomian 
warrior, and that about their short necks were 
massive leather collars cut to fit closely over the 
shoulders and snugly to the lower part of the head. 
Their features were scarce discernible, but there 
was a suggestion of grotesqueness about them that 
carried to her a feeling of revulsion. 

The two carried a long rope to which were 
fastened, at intervals of about two sofads, what she 
later guessed were light manacles, for she saw the 
warriors passing among the poor creatures in the 
enclosure and about the right wrist of each they 
fastened one of the manacles. When all had been 
thus fastened to the rope one of the warriors com- 
menced to pull and tug at the loose end as though 
attempting to drag the headless company toward the 
tower, while the other went among them with a 
long, light whip with which he flicked them upon 
the naked skin. Slowly, dully, the creatures rose to 
their feet and between the tugging of the warrior 
in front and the lashing of him behind the hopeless 
band was finally herded within the tower. Tara of 
Helium shuddered as she turned away. What mam 
ner of creatures were these? 


48 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Suddenly it was night. The Barsoomian day had 
ended, and then the brief period of twilight that 
renders the transition from daylight to darkness 
almost as abrupt as the switching off of an electric 
light, and Tara of Helium had found no sanctuary. 
But perhaps there were no beasts to fear, or rather 
to avoid — Tara of Helium liked not the word fear. 
She would have been glad, however, had there been 
a cabin, even a very tiny cabin, upon her small flier ; 
but there was no cabin. The interior of the hull was 
completely taken up by the buoyancy tanks. Ah, 
she had it! How stupid of her not to have thought 
of it before ! She could moor the craft to the tree 
beneath which it rested and let it rise the length 
of the rope. Lashed to the deck rings she would 
then be safe from any roaming beast of prey that 
chanced along. In the morning she could drop to 
ground again before the craft was discovered. 

As Tara of Helium crept over the brow of the hill 
down toward the valley, her presence was hidden 
by the darkness of the night from the sight of any 
chance observer who might be loitering by a window 
in the nearby tower. Cluros, the farther moon, 
was just rising above the horizon to commence his 
leisurely journey through the heavens. Eight zodes 
later he would set — a trifle over nineteen and a half 
Earth hours — and during that time Thuria, his 
vivacious mate, would have circled the planet twice 
and be more than half way around on her third 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


49 


trip. She had but just set. It would be more than 
three and a half hours before she shot above the 
opposite horizon to hurtle, swift and low, across the 
face of the dying planet. During this temporary 
absence of the mad moon Tara of Helium hoped to 
find both food and water, and gain again the safety 
of her flier's deck. 

She groped her way through the darkness, giving 
the tower and its enclosure as wide a berth as 
possible. Sometimes she stumbled, for in the long 
shadows cast by the rising Cluros objects were 
grotesquely distorted, though the light from the 
moon was still not sufficient to be of much assistance 
to her. Nor, as a matter of fact, did she want light. 
She could find the stream in the dark, by the simple 
expedient of going down hill until she walked into 
it and she had seen that bearing trees and many 
crops grew throughout the valley, so that she would 
pass food in plenty ere she r^eached the stream. If 
the moon showed her the way more clearly and thus 
saved her from an occasional fall, he would, too, 
show her more clearly to the strange denizens of the 
towers, and that, of course, must not be. Could she 
have waited until the following night conditions 
would have been better, since Cluros would not ap- 
pear in the heavens at all and so, during Thuria's 
absence, utter darkness would reign; but the pangs 
of thirst and the gnawing of hunger could be en- 
dured no longer with food and drink both in sight. 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


50 

and so she had decided to risk discovery rather than 
suffer longer. 

Safely past the nearest tower, she moved as 
rapidly as she felt consistent with safety, choosing 
her way wherever possible so that she might take 
advantage of the shadows of the trees that grew at 
intervals and at the same time discover those which 
bore fruit. In this latter she met with almost im- 
mediate success, for the very third tree beneath 
which she halted was heavy with ripe fruit. Never, 
thought Tara of Helium, had aught so delicious 
impinged upon her palate, and yet it was naught else 
than the almost tasteless usa, which is considered to 
be, rpalatable only after having been cooked and 
highly spiced. It grows easily with little irrigation 
and the trees bear abundantly. Tlie fruit, which 
ranks high in food value, is one of the staple foods 
of the less well-to-do, and because of its cheapness 
and nutritive value forms one of the principal rations 
of both armies and navies upon Barsoom, a use 
which has won for it a Martian sobriquet which, 
freely translated into English, would be, The Fight- 
ing Potato. The girl was wise enough to eat but 
sparingly, but she filled her pocket-pouch with the 
fruit before she continued upon her way. 

Two towers she passed before she came at last 
to the stream, and here again was she temperate, 
drinking but little and that very slowly, contenting 
herself with rinsing her mouth frequently and 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


51 


bathing her face, her hands, and her feet; and even 
though the night was cold, as Martian nights are, 
the sensation of refreshment more than compensated 
for the physical discomfort of the low temperature. 
Replacing her sandals she sought among the grow 
ing truck near the stream for whatever edible ber- 
ries or tubers might be planted there, and found a 
couple of varieties that could be eaten raw. With 
these she replaced some of the usa in her pocket- 
pouch, not only to insure a variety but because she 
found them more palatable. Occasionally she re- 
turned to the stream to drink, but each time mod- 
erately. Always were her eyes and ears alert for 
the first signs of danger, but she had neither seen 
nor heard aught to disturb her. And presently the 
time approached when she felt she must return to 
her flier lest she be caught in the revealing light of 
low swinging Thuria. She dreaded leaving the 
water for she knew that she must become very 
thirsty before she could hope to come again to 
the stream. If she only had some little receptacle 
in which to carry water, even a small amount would 
tide her over until the following night; but she 
had nothing and so she must content herself as best 
she could with the juices of the fruit and tubers she 
had gathered. 

After a last drink at the stream, the longest and 
deepest she had allowed herself, she rose to retrace 
her steps toward the hills; but even as she did sa 


52 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


she became suddenly tense with apprehension. What 
was that? She could have sworn that she saw 
something move in the shadows beneath a tree not 
far away. For a long minute the girl did not 
move — she scarce breathed. Her eyes remained 
fixed upon the dense shadows below the tree, her 
ears strained through the silence of the night. 'Al 
low moaning came down from the hills where her 
flier was hidden. She knew it well — the weird 
note of the hunting banth. And the great carnivore 
lay directly in her path. But he was not so close 
as this other thing, hiding there in the shadows 
just a little way off. What was it? It was the 
strain of uncertainty that weighed heaviest upon 
her. Had she known the nature of the creature 
lurking there half its menace would have vanished. 
She cast quickly about her in search of some haven 
of refuge should the thing prove dangerous. 

Again arose the moaning from the hills, but this 
time closer. Almost immediately it was answered 
from the opposite side of the valley, behind her, 
and then from the distance to the right of her, and 
twice upon her left. Her eyes had found a tree, 
quite near. Slowly, and without taking her eyes 
from the shadows of that other tree, she moved 
toward the overhanging branches that might afford 
her sanctuary in the event of need, and at her first 
move a low growl rose from the spot she had been 
watching and she heard the sudden moving of a 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


S3 


big body. Simultaneously the creature shot into 
the moonlight in full charge upon her, its tail erect, 
its tiny ears laid flat, its great mouth with its mul- 
tiple rows of sharp and powerful fangs already 
yawning for its prey, its ten legs carrying it forward 
in great leaps, and now from the beast’s throat issued 
the frightful roar with which it seeks to paralyze 
its prey. It was a banth — the great, maned lion 
of Barsoom. Tara of Helium saw it coming and 
leaped for the tree toward which she had been 
moving, and the banth realized her intention and re- 
doubled his speed. As his hideous roar awakened 
the echoes in the hills, so too it awakened echoes 
in the valley; but these echoes came from the living 
throats of others of his kind, until it seemed to the 
girl that Fate had thrown her into the midst of a 
countless multitude of these savage beasts. 

Almost incredibly swift is the speed of a charging 
banth, and fortunate it was that the girl had not 
been caught farther in the open. As it was, her 
margin of safety was next to negligible, for as she 
swung nimbly to the lower branches the creature in 
pursuit of her crashed among the foliage almost 
upon her as it sprang upward to seize her. It was 
only a combination of good fortune and agility that 
saved her. A stout branch deflected the raking 
talons of the carnivore, but so close was the call 
that a giant forearm brushed her flesh in the instant 
before she scrambled to the higher branches. 


54 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Baffled, the banth gave vent to his rage and dis- 
appointment in a series of frightful roars that 
caused the very ground to tremble, and to these were 
added the roarings and the growlings and the 
meanings of his fellows as they approached from 
every direction, in the hope of wresting from him 
whatever of his kill they could take by craft or 
prowess. And now he turned snarling upon them 
as they circled the tree, while the girl, huddled in 
a crotch above them, looked down upon the gaunt, 
yellow monsters padding on noiseless feet in a rest- 
less circle about her. She wondered now at the 
strange freak of fate that had permitted her to 
come down this far into the valley by night un- 
harmed ; but even more she wondered how she was 
to return to the hills. She knew that she would 
not dare venture it by night and she guessed, too, 
that by day she might be confronted by even graver 
perils. To depend upon this valley for sustenance 
she now saw to be beyond the pale of possibility 
because of the banths that would keep her from 
food and water by night, while the dwellers in the 
towers would doubtless make it equally impossible 
for her to forage by day. There was but one solu- 
tion of her difficulty and that was to return to her 
fli«r and pray that the wind would waft her to some 
less terrorful land; but when might she return to 
the flier? The banths gave little evidence of re- 
linquishing hope of her, and even if 1f»ey wandered 


THE HEADLESS HUMANS 


55 


out of sight would she dare risk the attempt? She 
doubted it. 

Hopeless indeed seemed her situation — hope- 
less it was 


CHAPTER IV 


CAPTURED 


S THURIA, swift racer of the night, shoi: 



r\ again into the sky the scene changed. As by 
magic a new aspect fell athwart the face of Nature. 
It was as though in the instant one had been trans- 
ported from one planet to another. It was the age- 
old miracle of the Martian nights that is always 
new, even to Martians — two moons resplendent in 
the heavens, where one had been but now; conflict- 
ing, fast-changing shadows that altered the very 
hills themselves; far Cluros, stately, majestic, al- 
most stationary, shedding his steady light upon the 
world below ; Thuria, a great and glorious orb, 
swinging swift across the vaulted dome of the blue- 
black night, so low that she seemed to graze the 
hills, a gorgeous spectacle that held the girl now 
beneath the spell of its enchantment as it always had 
and always would. 

'‘Ah, Thuria, mad queen of heaven!” murmured 
Tara of Helium. " The hills pass in stately pro- 
cession, their bosoms rising and falling; the trees 
move in restless circles; the little grasses describe 
their little arcs ; and all is movement, restless, mys- 
terious movement without sound, while Thuria 


CAPTURED 


57 


passes/^ The girl sighed and let her gaze fall again 
to the stern realities beneath. There was no mystery 
in the huge banths. He who had discovered her 
squatted there looking hungrily up at her. Most of 
the others had wandered away in search of other 
prey, but a few remained hoping yet to bury their 
fangs in that soft body. 

The night wore on. Again Thuria left the 
heavens to her lord and master, hurrying on to keep 
her tryst with the Sun in other skies. But a single 
banth waited impatiently beneath the tree whicjh 
harbored Tara of Helium. The others had left, 
but their roars, and growls, and moans thundered 
or rumbled, or floated back to her from near and 
far. What prey found they in this little valley? 
There must be something that they were accustomed 
to find here that they should be drawn in so great 
numbers. The girl wondered what it could be. 

How long the night ! Numb, cold, and exhausted, 
Tara of Helium clung to the tree in growing des- 
peration, for once she had dozed and almost fallen. 
Hope was low in her brave little heart. How much 
more could she endure? She asked herself the ques- 
tion and then, with a brave shake of her head, she 
squared her shoulders. still live!” she said 
aloud. 

The banth looked up and growled. 

Came Thuria again and after awhile the great 
Sun — a flaming lover, pursuing his heart’s desire. 


58 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


And Cluros, the cold husband, continued his serene 
way, as placid as before his house had been violated 
by this hot Lothario. And now the Sun and both 
Moons rode together in the sky, lending their far 
mysteries to make weird the Martian dawn. Tara 
of Helium looked out across the fair valley that 
spread upon all sides of her. It was rich and 
beautiful, but even as she looked upon it she shud- 
dered, for to her mind came a picture of the headless 
things that the towers and the walls hid. Those 
by day and the banths by night! Ah, was it any 
wonder that she shuddered ? 

With the coming of the Sun the great Barsoom- 
ian lion rose to his feet. He turned angry eyes 
upon the girl above him, voiced a single ominous 
growl, and slunk away toward the hills. The girl 
watched him, and she saw that he gave the towers 
as wide a berth as possible and that he never took 
his eyes from one of them while he was passing it. 
Evidently the inmates had taught these savage crea- 
tures to respect them. Presently he passed from 
sight in a narrow defile, nor in any direction that 
she could see was there another. Momentarily at 
least the landscape was deserted. The girl wondered 
if she dared attempt to regain the hills and her 
flier. She dreaded the coming of the workmen to 
the fields as she was sure they would come. She 
shrank from again seeing the headless bodies, and 
found herself wondering if these things would come 


CAPTURED 


59 


oat into the fields and work. She looked toward 
the nearest tower. There was no sign of life there. 
The valley lay quiet now and deserted. She lowered 
herself stiffly to the ground. Her muscles were 
cramped and every move brought a twinge of pain. 
Pausing a moment to drink again at the stream she 
felt refreshed and then turned without more delay 
toward the hills. To cover the distance as quickly 
as possible seemed the only plan to pursue. The 
trees no longer offered concealment and so she did 
not go out of her way to be near them. The hills 
seemed very far away. She had not thought, the 
night before, that she had traveled so far. Really 
it had not been far, but now, with the three towers 
to pass in broad daylight, the distance seemed great 
indeed. 

The second tower lay almost directly in her path. 
To make a detour would not lessen the chance of 
detection, it would only lengthen the period of her 
danger, and so she laid her course straight for the 
hill where her flier was, regardless of the tower. 
As she passed the first enclosure she thought that 
she heard the sound of movement within, but the 
gate did not open and she breathed more easily when 
it lay behind her. She came then to the second 
enclosure, the outer wall of which she must circle, 
as it lay across her route. As she passed close along 
it she distinctly heard not only movement within, 
but voices. In the world-language of Barsoom she 


6o 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


heard a man issuing instructions — so many were to 
pick usa, so many were to irrigate this field, so 
many to cultivate that, and so on, as a foreman 
lays out the day's work for his crew. 

Tara of Helium had just reached the gate in the 
outer wall. Without warning it swung open toward 
her. She saw that for a moment it would hide her 
from those within and in that moment she turned 
and ran, keeping close to the wall, until, passing 
out of sight beyond the curve of the structure, she 
came to the opposite side of the enclosure. Here, 
panting from her exertion and from the excitement 
of her narrow escape, she threw herself among some 
tall weeds that grew close to the foot of the wall. 
There she lay trembling for some time, not even 
daring to raise her head and look about. Never 
before had Tara of Helium felt the paralyzing 
effects of terror. She was shocked and angry at 
herself, that she, daughter of John Carter, Warlord 
of Barsoom, should exhibit fear. Not even the fact 
that there had been none there to witness it lessened 
her shame and anger, and the worst of it was she 
knew that under similar circumstances she would 
again be equally as craven. It was not the fear of 
death — she knew that. No, it was the thought of 
those headless bodies and that she might see them 
and that they might even touch her — lay hands 
upon her — seize her. She shuddered and trembled 
at the thought. 


CAPTURED 


6t 


After a while she gained sufficient command of 
herself to raise her head and look about. To her 
horror she discovered that everywhere she looked 
she saw people working in the fields or preparing 
to do so. Workmen were coming from other 
towers. Little bands were passing to this field and 
that. There were even some already at work within 
thirty ads of her — about a hundred yards. There 
were ten, perhaps, in the party nearest her, both 
men and women, and all were beautiful of form and 
grotesque of face. So meager were their trappings 
that they were practically naked ; a fact that was in 
no way remarkable among the tillers of the fields 
of Mars. Each wore the peculiar, high leather 
collar that completely hid the neck, and each wore 
sufficient other leather to support a single sword and 
a pocket-pouch. The leather was very old and 
worn, showing long, hard service, and was abso- 
lutely plain with the exception of a single device 
upon the left shoulder. The heads, however, were 
covered with ornaments of precious metals and 
jewels, so that little more than eyes, nose, and mouth 
were discernible. These were hideously inhuman 
and yet grotesquely human at the same time. The 
eyes were far apart and protruding, the nose scarce 
more than two small, parallel slits set vertically 
above a round hole that was the mouth. The heads 
were peculiarly repulsive — so much so that it 
seemed unbelievable to the girl that they formed 


62 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


an integral part of the beautiful bodies below 
them. 

So fascinated was Tara of Helium that she could 
scarce take her eyes from the strange creatures — a 
fact that was to prove her undoing, for in order that 
she might see them she was forced to expose a part 
of her own head and presently, to her consterna- 
tion, she saw that one of the creatures had stopped 
his work and was staring directly at her. She did 
not dare move, for it was still possible that the 
thing had not seen her, or at least was only suspi- 
cious that some creature lay hid among the weeds. 
If she could allay this suspicion by remaining mo- 
tionless the creature might believe that he had been 
mistaken and return to his work; but, alas, such 
was not to be the case. She saw the thing call the 
attention of others to her and almost immediately 
four or five of them started to move in her direc- 
tion. 

It was impossible now to escape discovery. Her 
only hope lay in flight. If she could elude them 
and reach the hills and the flier ahead of them she 
might escape, and that could be accomplished in but 
one way — flight, immediate and swift. Leaping to 
her feet she darted along the base of the wall which 
she must skirt to the opposite side, beyond which 
lay the hill that was her goal. Her act was greeted 
by strange whistling sounds from the things behind 
her, and casting a glance over her shoulder she saw 


CAPTURED 


63 


them all in rapid pursuit. There were also shrill com- 
mands that she halt, but to these she paid no at- 
tention. Before she had half circled the enclosure 
she discovered that her chances for successful escape 
were great, since it was evident to her that her 
pursuers were not so fleet as she. High indeed then 
were her hopes as she came in sight of the hill, but 
they were soon dashed by what lay before her, for 
there, in the fields that lay between, were fully a 
hundred creatures similar to those behind her and 
all were on the alert, evidently warned by the 
whistling of their fellows. Instructions and com- 
mands were shouted to and fro, with the result 
that those before her spread roughly into a great 
half circle to intercept her, and when she turned to 
the right, hoping to elude the net, she saw others 
coming from fields beyond, and to the le^t the same 
was true. But Tara of Helium would not admit 
defeat. Without once pausing she turned directly 
toward the center of the advancing semi-circle, be- 
yond which lay her single chance of escape, and 
as she ran she drew her long, slim dagger. Like 
her valiant sire, if die she must, she would die fight- 
ing. There were gaps in the thin line confronting 
her and toward the widest of one of these she di- 
rected her course. The things on either side of 
the opening guessed her intent for they closed in to- 
place themselves in her path. This widened the 
openings on either side of them and as the girl ap- 


64 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


peared almost to rush into their arms she turned 
suddenly at right angles, ran swiftly in the 
new direction for a few yards, and then dashed 
quickly toward the hill again. Now only a single 
warrior, with a wide gap on either side of him, 
barred her clear way to freedom, though all the 
others were speeding as rapidly as they could to 
intercept her. If she could pass this one without too 
much delay she could escape, of that she was certain. 
Her every hope hinged upon this. The creature be- 
fore her realized it, too, for he moved cautiously, 
though swiftly, to intercept her, as a Rugby full- 
back might maneuver in the realization that he alone 
stood between the opposing team and a touche 
down. 

At first Tara of Helium had hoped that she might 
dodge him, for she could not but guess that she 
was not only more fleet but infinitely more agile 
than these strange creatures; but soon there came 
to her the realization that in the time consumed in 
an attempt to elude his grasp his nearer fellows 
would be upon her and escape then impossible, so 
she chose instead to charge straight for him, and 
when he guessed her decision he stood, half crouch- 
ing and with outstretched arms, awaiting her. In 
one hand was his sword, but a voice arose, crying in 
tones of authority. ‘‘Take her alive! Do not harm 
her!'’ Instantly the fellow returned his sword to 
its scabbard and then Tara of Helium was upon 


CAPTURED 


65 


him. Straight for that beautiful body she sprang 
and in the instant that the arms closed to seize her 
her sharp blade drove deep into the naked chest. 
The impact hurled them both to the ground and as 
Tara of Helium sprang to her feet again she saw, 
to her horror, that the loathsome head had rolled 
from the body and was now crawling away from 
her on six short, spider-like legs. The body struggled 
spasmodically and lay still. As brief as had been 
the delay caused by the encounter, it still had been 
of sufficient duration to undo her, for even as she 
rose two more of the things fell upon her and in- 
stantly thereafter she was surrounded. Her blade 
sank once more into naked flesh and once more a 
head rolled free and crawled away. Then they over- 
powered her and in another moment she was sur- 
rounded by fully a hundred of the creatures, all 
seeking to lay hands upon her. At first she thought 
that they wished to tear her to pieces in revenge 
for her having slain two of their fellows, but pres- 
ently she realized that they were prompted more by 
curiosity than by any sinister motive. 

'' Come ! ” said one of her captors, both of whom 
had retained a hold upon her. As he spoke he 
tried to lead her away with him toward the nearest 
tower. 

She belongs to me,” cried the other. “ Did not 
I capture her? She will come with me to the tower 
of Moak.” 


66 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


** Never ! ” insisted the first. “ She is Luud's. To 
Luud I will take her, and whosoever interferes may 
feel the keenness of my sword — in the head!'* 
He almost shouted the last three words. 

“Come! Enough of this,’' cried one who spoke 
with some show of authority. “ She was captured 
in Luud’s fields — she will go to Luud.” 

“ She was discovered in Moak’s fields, at the very 
foot of the tower of Moak,” insisted he who had 
claimed her for Moak. 

“You have heard the Nolach speak,” cried the 
Luud. “It shall be as he says.” 

“ Not while this Moak holds a sword,” replied 
the other. “ Rather will I cut her in twain and take 
my half to Moak than to relinquish her all to Luud,” 
and he drew his sword, or rather he laid his hand 
upon its hilt in a threatening gesture; but before 
ever he could draw it the Luud had whipped his out 
and with a fearful blow cut deep into the head of 
his adversary. Instantly the big, round head col- 
lapsed, almost as a punctured balloon collapses, as a 
grayish, semi-fluid matter spurted from it. The pro- 
truding eyes, apparently lidless, merely stared, the 
sphincter-like muscle of the mouth opened and 
closed, and then the head toppled from the body to 
the ground. The body stood dully for a moment 
and then slowly started to wander aimlessly about 
until one of the others seized it by the arm. 

One of the two heads crawling about on the ground 


CAPTURED 


67 


now approached. ‘‘ This rykor belongs to Moak/* 
it said. ** I am a Moak. I will take it,” and with* 
out further discussion it commenced to crawl up the 
front of the headless body, using its six short, 
spiderlike legs and two stout chelae which grew just 
in front of its legs and strongly resembled those of 
an Earthly lobster, except that they were both of 
the same size. The body in the meantime stood In 
passive indifference, its arms hanging idly at its 
sides. The head climbed to the shoulders and set- 
tled itself inside the leather collar that now hid its 
chelae and legs. Almost immediately the body gave 
evidence of intelligent animation. It raised its hands 
and adjusted the collar more comfortably, it took 
the head between its palms and settled it in place 
and when it moved around it did not wander aim- 
lessly, but instead its steps were firm and to some 
purpose. 

The girl watched all these things in growing 
wonder, and presently, no other of the Moaks seem- 
ing inclined to dispute the right of the Luud to her, 
she was led off by her captor toward the nearest 
tower. Several accompanied them, including one 
who carried the loose head under his arm. The 
head that was being carried conversed with the head 
upon the shoulders of the thing that carried it. 
Tara of Helium shivered. It was horrible! All 
that she had seen of these frightful creatures was 
horrible. And to be a prisoner, wholly in their 


68 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


power. Shadow of her first ancestor! What had 
she done to deserve so cruel a fate? 

At the wall enclosing the tower they paused while 
one opened the gate and then they passed within the 
enclosure, which, to the girl’s horror, she found filled 
with headless bodies. The creature who carried the 
bodiless head now set its burden upon the ground 
and the latter immediately crawled toward one of 
the bodies that was lying near by. Some wandered 
stupidly to and fro, but this one lay still. It was 
a female. The head crawled to it and made its way 
to the shoulders where it settled itself. At once the 
body sprang lightly erect. Another of those who 
had accompanied them from the fields approached 
with the harness and collar that had been taken from 
the dead body that the head had formerly topped. 
The new body now appropriated these and the hands 
deftly adjusted them. The creature was now as 
good as before Tara of Helium had struck down its 
former body with her slim blade. But there was 
a difference. Before it had been male — now it was 
female. That, however, seemed to make no differ- 
ence to the head. In fact, Tara of Helium had no- 
iticed during the scramble and the fight about her 
that sex differences seemed of little moment to her 
captors. Males and females had taken equal part in 
her pursuit, both were identically harnessed and 
both carried swords, and she had seen as many fe- 
males as males draw their weapons at the moment 


CAPTURED 


69 


that a quarrel between the two factions seemed 
imminent. 

The girl was given but brief opportunity for 
further observation of the pitiful creatures in the 
enclosure as her captor, after having directed 
the others to return to the fields, led her toward the 
tower, which they entered, passing into an apart- 
ment about ten feet wide and twenty long, in one 
end of which was a stairway leading to an upper 
level and in the '^ther an opening to a similar stair- 
way leading downward. The chamber, though on 
a level with the ground, was brilliantly lighted by 
windows in its inner wall, the light coming from ai 
circular court in the center of the tower. The walls 
of this court appeared to be faced with what resem- 
bled glazed, white tile and the whole interior of it 
was flooded with dazzling light, a fact which im- 
mediately explained to the girl the purpose of the 
glass prisms of which the domes were constructed. 
The stairways themselves were sufficient to cause 
remark, since in nearly all Barsoomian architecture 
inclined runways are utilized for purposes of com^ 
munication between different levels, and especially 
is this true of the more ancient forms and of those 
of remote districts where fewer changes have come 
to alter the customs of antiquity. 

Down the stairway her captor led Tara of 
Helium. Down and down through chambers still 
lighted from the brilliant well. Occasionally they 


70 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


passed others going in the opposite direction and 
these always stopped to examine the girl and ask 
questions of her captor. 

'‘I know nothing but that she was found in the 
fields and that I caught her after a fight in which 
she slew two rykors and in which I slew a Moak, 
and that I take her to Luud, to whom, of course, 
she belongs. If Luud wishes to question her that 
is for Luud to do — not for me.'* Thus always he 
answered the curious. 

Presently they reached a room from which a cir- 
cular tunnel led away from the tower, and into this 
the creature conducted her. The tunnel was some 
seven feet in diameter and flattened on the bottom 
to form a walk. For a hundred feet from the tower 
it was lined with the same tile-like material of the 
light well and amply illuminated by reflected light 
from that source. Beyond it was faced with stone 
of various shapes and sizes, neatly cut and fitted 
together — a very fine mosaic without a pattern. 
There were branches, too, and other tunnels which 
crossed this, and occasionally openings not more 
than a foot in diameter; these latter being usually 
close to the floor. Above each of these smaller 
openings was painted a different device, while upon 
the walls of the larger tunnels at all intersections 
and points of convergence hieroglyphics appeared. 
These the girl could not read though she guessed 
that they were the names of the tunnels, or notices 


CAPTURED 


71 


indicating the points to which they led. She tried 
to study some of them out, but there was not a 
character that was familiar to her, which seemed 
strange, since, while the written languages of the 
various nations of Barsoom differ, it still is true 
that they have many characters and words in 
common. 

She had tried to converse with her guard but 
he had not seemed inclined to talk with her and 
she had finally desisted. She could not but note 
that he had offered her no indignities, nor had he 
been either unnecessarily rough or in any way cruel. 
The fact that she had slain two of the bodies with 
her dagger had apparently aroused no animosity or 
desire for revenge in the minds of the strange heads 
that surmounted the bodies — even those whose 
bodies had been killed. She did not try to under- 
stand it, since she could not approach the peculiar 
relationship between the heads and the bodies of 
these creatures from the basis of any past knowl- 
edge or experience of her own. So far their treat- 
ment of her seemed to augur naught that might 
arouse her fears. Perhaps, after all, she had been 
fortunate to fall into the hands of these strange 
people, who might not only protect her from harm, 
but even aid her in returning to Helium. That they 
were repulsive and uncanny she could not forget, 
but if they meant her no harm she could, at least, 
overlook their repulsiveness. Renewed hope 


72 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


aroused within her a spirit of greater cheerfulness, 
and it was almost blithely now that she moved at 
the side of her weird companion. She even caught 
herself humming a gay little tune that was then 
popular in Helium. The creature at her side turned 
its expressionless eyes upon her. 

‘‘What is that noise that you are making?’’ it 
asked. 

“I was but humming an air/’ she replied. 

“‘Humming an air/” he repeated. “I do not 
know what you mean; but do it again, I like it.”^' 

This time she sang the words, while her com^* 
panion listened intently. His face gave no indica- 
tion of what was passing in that strange head. Ic 
was as devoid of expression as that of a spider. It 
reminded her of a spider. When she had finished 
he turned toward her again. 

“That was different,” he said. “I liked that 
better, even, than the other. How do you do it ? ” 

“Why,” she said, “it is singing. Do you not 
know what song is ? ” 

“ No,” he replied. “ Tell me how you do it.” 

“It is difficult to explain,” she told him, “since 
any explanation of it presupposes some knowledge 
of melody and of music, while your very question 
indicates that you have no knowledge of either.” 

“No,” he said, “I do not know what you are 
talking about; but tell me how you do it.” 

“It is merely the melodious modulations of my 


CAPTURED 


73 


voice/' she explained. ‘'Listen!'' and again she 
sang. 

“I do not understand," he insisted; “but I like 
it. Could you teach me to do it?" 

“ I do not know, but I shall be glad to try." 

“ We will see what Luud does with you," he said. 
“If he does not want you I will keep you and you 
shall teach me to make sounds like that." 

At his request she sang again as they continued 
their way along the winding tunnel, which was now 
lighted by occasional bulbs which appeared to be 
similar to the radium bulbs with which she was 
familiar and which were common to all the nations 
of Barsoom, insofar as she knew, having been per- 
fected at so remote a period that their very origin 
was lost in antiquity. They consist, usually, of a) 
hemispherical bowl of heavy glass in which is 
packed a compound containing what, according to 
John Carter, must be radium. The bowl is then 
cemented into a metal plate with a heavily insulated 
back and the whole affair set in the masonry of wall 
or ceiling as desired, where it gives off light of 
greater or less intensity, according to the composi- 
tion of the filling material, for an almost incal- 
culable period of time. 

As they proceeded they met a greater number of 
the inhabitants of this underground world, and the 
girl noted that among many of these the metal and 
harness were more ornate than had been those of 


74 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


the workers in the fields above. The heads and 
bodies, however, were similar, even identical, she 
thought. No one offered her harm and she was now 
^ experiencing a feeling of relief almost akin to hap- 
piness, when her guide turned suddenly into an open- 
ing on the right side of the tunnel and she found 
herself in a large, well lighted chamber. 


CHAPTER V 


The perfect brain 

T he song that had been upon her lips as she' 
entered died there — frozen by the sight of 
horror that met her eyes. In the center of the 
chamber a headless body lay upon the floor — a body 
that had been partially devoured — while over and 
upon it crawled a half a dozen heads upon their 
short, spider legs, and they tore at the flesh of the 
woman with their chelae and carried the bits to 
their awful mouths. They were eating human 
flesh — eating it raw ! 

Tara of Helium gasped in horror and turning 
away covered her eyes with her palms. 

‘‘Come!’’ said her captor. “What is the mat- 
ter?” 

“They are eating the flesh of the woman,” she 
whispered in tones of horror. 

“Why not?” he inquired. “Did you suppose 
that we kept the rykor for labor alone? Ah, no. 
They are delicious when kept and fattened. Fortu- 
nate, too, are those that are bred for food, since 
they are never called upon to do aught but eat.” 

“ It is hideous ! ” she cried. 

He looked at her steadily for a moment, but 
75 


le^lTHE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


whether in surprise, in anger, or in pity his ex- 
pressionless face did not reveal. Then he led her 
on across the room past the frightful thing, from 
which she turned away her eyes. Lying about the 
floor near the walls were half a dozen headless 
4K)dies in harness. These she guessed had been 
abandoned tanporarily by the feasting heads until 
they again required their services. In the walls of 
this room there were many of the small, round open- 
ings she had noticed in various parts of the tunnels, 
the purpose of which she could not guess. 

They passed through another corridor and then 
into a second chamber, larger than the first and 
more brilliantly illuminated. Within were several 
of the creatures with heads and bodies assembled, 
while many headless bodies lay about near the walls„ 
Here her captor halted and spoke to one of the oc- 
cupants of the chamber. 

‘‘I seek Luud,'' he said. bring to Luud a 
creature that I captured in the fields above.” 

The others crowded about to examine Tara of 
Helium. One of them whistled, whereupon the girl 
learned something of the smaller openings in the 
walls, for almost immediately there crawled from 
them, like giant spiders, a score or more of the 
hideous heads. Each sought one of the recumbent 
bodies and fastened itself in place. Immediately the 
bodies reacted to the intelligent direction of the 
heads. They arose, the hands adjusted the leather 


THE PERFECT BRAIN 


77 


collars and put the balance of the harness in order, 
then the creatures crossed the room to where Tara 
of Helium stood. She noted that their leather was 
more highly ornamented than that worn by any of 
the others she had previously seen, and so she 
guessed that these must be higher in authority than 
the others. Nor was she mistaken. The demeanor 
of her captor indicated it. He addressed them as 
one who holds intercourse with superiors. 

Several of those who examined her felt her flesh, 
pinching it gently between thumb and forefinger, a 
familiarity that the girl resented. She struck down 
their hands. ‘‘Do not touch me!’’ she cried, im- 
periously, for was she not a princess of Helium? 
The expressions on those terrible faces did not 
change. She could not tell whether they were angry 
or amused, whether her action had filled them with 
respect for her, or contempt. Only one of them 
spoke immediately. 

“ She will have to be fattened more,” he said. 

The girl’s eyes went wide in horror. She turned 
upon her captor. “ Do these frightful creatures in- 
tend to devour me?” she cried. 

“That is for Luud to say,” he replied, and then 
he leaned closer so that his mouth was near her 
ear. “ That noise you made which you called song 
pleased me,” he whispered, “ and I will repay you 
by warning you not to antagonize these kaldanes. 
They are very powerful. Luud listens to them. Do 


78 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


not call them frightful. They are very handsome. 
Look at their wonderful trappings, their gold, their 
jewels.'’ 

Thank you,” she said. ‘‘You called them kal- 
danes — what does that mean?” 

“We are all kaldanes,” he replied. 

“You, too?” and she pointed at him', her slim 
finger directed toward his chest. 

“No, not this,” he explained, touching his body; 
“this is a rykor; but this,” and he touched his head, 
“is a kaldane. It is the brain, the intellect, the 
power that directs all things. The rykor,” he in- 
dicated his body, “is nothing. It is not so much 
even as the jewels upon our harness; no, not so 
much as the harness itself. It carries us about. It 
is true that we would find difficulty getting along 
without it; but it has less value than harness or 
jewels because it is less difficult to reproduce.” He 
turned again to the other kaldanes, “Will you 
notify Luud that I am here ? ” he asked. 

“Sept has already gone to Luud. He will tell 
him,” replied one, “ Where did you find this rykor 
with the strange kaldane that cannot detach itself?” 

The girl’s captor narrated once more the story of 
her capture. He stated facts just as they had 
occurred, without embellishment, his voice as 
expressionless as his face, and his story was received 
in the same manner that it was delivered. The 
creatures seemed totally lacking in emotion, or, at 


THE PERFECT BRAIN 


79 


least, the capacity to express it It was impossible 
to judge what impression the story made upon 
them, or even if they heard it. Their protruding 
eyes simply stared and occasionally the muscles of 
their mouths opened and closed. Familiarity did 
not lessen the horror the girl felt for them. The 
more she saw of them the more repulsive they 
seemed. Often her body was shaken by convulsive 
shudders as she looked at the kaldanes, but when 
her eyes wandered to the beautiful bodies and she 
could for a moment expunge the heads from her 
consciousness the effect was soothing and refresh- 
ing, though when the bodies lay, headless, upon the 
floor they were quite as shocking as the heads 
mounted on bodies. But by far the most grewsome 
and uncanny sight of all was that of the heads 
crawling about upon their spider legs. If one of 
these should approach and touch her Tara of Helium 
was positive that she should scream, while should 
one attempt to crawl up her person — ugh! the- 
very idea induced a feeling of faintness. 

Sept returned to the chamber. ‘‘Luud will see 
you and the captive. Come!” he said, and turned 
toward a door opposite that through which Tara of 
Helium had entered the chamber. ‘‘What is your 
name?” His question was directed to the girl’s 
captor. 

“I anl Ghek, third foreman of the fields of 
Luud,” he answered. 


So 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


‘‘And hers?” 

“ I do not know.” 

“ It makes no difference. Come ! ” 

The patrician brows of Tara of Helkim went 
high. It made no difference, indeed ! She, a 
princess of Helium; only daughter of The Warlord 
of Barsoom ! 

“Wait!” she cried. “It makes much difference 
who I am. If you are conducting me into the pres- 
ence of your jed you may announce The Princess 
Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter, The 
Warlord of Barsoom.” 

“ Hold your peace ! ” commanded Sept. “ Speak 
when you are spoken to. Come with me!” 

The anger of Tara of Helium all but choked her. 
“ Come,” admonished Ghek, and took her by the 
arm, and Tara of Helium came. She was naught 
but a prisoner. Her rank and titles meant nothing 
to these inhuman monsters. They led her through 
a short, S-shaped passageway into a chamber en- 
tirely lined with the white, tile-like material with 
which the interior of the light wall was faced. 
Close to the base of the walls were numerous smaller 
apertures, circular in shape, but larger than those 
of similar aspect that she had noted elsewhere. The 
majority of these apertures were sealed. Directly 
opposite the entrance was one framed in gold, and 
above it a peculiar device was inlaid in the same 
precious metal. 


THE PERFECT BRAIN 


8i 


Sept and Ghek halted just within the room, the 
girl between them, and all three stood silently facing 
the opening in the opposite wall. On the floor be- 
side the aperture lay a headless male body of almost 
heroic proportions, and on either side of this stood 
2L heavily armed warrior, with drawn sword. For 
perhaps five minutes the three waited and then 
something appeared in the opening. It was a pair 
of large chelae and immediately thereafter there 
crawled forth a hideous kaldane of enormous pro- 
portions. He was half again as large as any that 
Tara of Helium had yet seen and his whole aspect 
infinitely more terrible. The skin of the others was 
a bluish gray — this one was of a little bluer tinge 
and the eyes were ringed with bands of white and 
scarlet, as was its mouth. From each nostril a band 
of white and one of scarlet extended outward hori- 
zontally the width of the face. 

No one spoke or moved. The creature crawled 
to the prostrate body and affixed itself to the neck. 
Then the two rose as one and approached the girl. 
He looked at her and then he spoke to her captor. 

'‘You are the third foreman of the fields of 
Luud ? ” he asked' 

"Yes, Luud; I am called Ghek.” 

" Tell me what you know of this,” and he nodded 
toward Tara of Helium. 

Ghek did as he was bid and then Luud addressed 
the girl. 


82 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


'‘What were you doing within the borders of 
Bantoom?” he asked. 

“ I was blown hither in a great storm' that in- 
jured my flier and carried me I knew not where. 
I came down into the valley at night for food and 
drink. The banths came and drove me to the safety 
of a tree, and then your people caught me as I was 
trying to leave the valley. I do not know why 
they took me. I was doing no harm. All I ask is 
that you let me go my way in peace.” 

“ None who enters Bantoom ever leaves,” replied 
Luud. 

“But my people are not at war with yours. I 
am a princess of Helium; my great-grandfather is 
a jeddak; my grandfather a jed; and my father is 
Warlord of all Barsoom. You have no right to 
keep me and I demand that you liberate me at 
once.” 

“None who enters Bantoom ever leaves,” re- 
peated the creature without expression. “I know 
nothing of the lesser creatures of Barsoom, of whom 
you speak. There is but one high race — the race 
of Bantoomians. All Nature exists to serve them. 
You shall do your share, but not yet — you are too 
skinny. We shall have to put some fat upon it. 
Sept. I tire of rykor. Perhaps this will have a 
different flavor. The banths are too rank and it is 
seldom that any other creature enters the valley. 
And you, Ghek; you shall be rewarded. I shall 


THE PERFECT BRAIN 


promote you from the fields to the burrows. Here- 
after you shall remain underground as every Ban- 
toomian longs to. No more shall you be forced to 
endure the hated sun, or look upon the hideous sky, 
or the hateful growing things that defile the surface. 
For the present you shall look after this thing that 
you have brought me, seeing that it sleeps and 
eats — and does nothing else. You understand me, 
Ghek ; nothing else ! ” 

‘‘ I understand, Luud,” replied the other. 

‘‘Take it away!’’ commanded the creature. 

Ghek turned and led Tara of Helium from the 
apartment. The girl was horrified by contemplation 
of the fate that awaited her — a fate from which 
it seemed, there was no escape. It was only too 
evident that these creatures possessed no gentle or 
chivalric sentiments to which she could appeal, and 
that she might escape from the labyrinthine mazes 
of their underground burrows appeared impossible. 

Outside the audience chamber Sept overtook them 
and conversed with Ghek for a brief period, then 
her keeper led her through a confusing web of wind- 
ing tunnels until they came to a small apartment. 

“We are to remain here for a while. It may 
be that Luud will send for you again. If he does 
you will probably not be fattened — he will use you 
for another purpose.” It was fortunate for the 
girl’s peace of mind that she did not realize what 
he meant. “Sing for me,” said Ghek, presently. 


84 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Tara of Helium did not feel at all like singing, but 
she sang, nevertheless, for there was always the hope 
that she might escape if given the opportunity and 
if she could win the friendship of one of the crea- 
tures, her chances would be increased proportion- 
ately. All during the ordeal, for such it was to the 
overwrought girl, Ghek stood with his eyes fixed 
upon her. 

‘‘ It is wonderful,’’ he said, when she had finished ; 
'"but I did not tell Luud — you noticed that I did 
not tell Luud about it. Had he known, he would 
have had you sing to him and that would have 
resulted in your being kept with him that he might 
hear you sing whenever he wished; but now I can 
have you all the time.” 

How do you know he would like my singing ? ” 
she asked. 

‘‘He would have to,” replied Ghek. “If I like 
a thing he has to like it, for are we not iden- 
tical — all of us?” 

“ The people of my race do not all like the same 
things,” said the girl. 

“How strange!” commented Ghek. “All kal- 
danes like the same things and dislike the same 
things. If I discover something new and like it I 
know that all kaldanes will like it. That is how I 
know that Luud would like your singing. You see 
we are all exactly alike.” 

“ But you do not look like Luud,” said the girl. 


THE PERFECT BRAIN 


85 


"Luud is king. He is larger and more gor- 
geously marked ; but otherwise he and I are identical, 
and why not? Did not Luud produce the egg from 
which I hatched?” 

“What?” queried the girl; “I do not under- 
stand you.” 

“Yes,” explained Ghek, “all of us are from 
Luud’s eggs, just as all the swarm of Moak are 
from Moak’s eggs.” 

“Oh!” exclaimed Tara of Helium understand- 
ingly; “you mean that Luud has many wives and 
that you are the offspring of one of them.” 

“ No, not that at all,” replied Ghek. “ Luud has 
no wife. He lays the eggs himself. You do not 
understand.” 

Tara of Helium admitted that she did not. 

“I will try to explain, then,” said Ghek, “if you 
will promise to sing to me later.” 

“ I promise,” she said. 

“ We are not like the rykors,” he began. “ They 
are creatures of a low order, like yourself and the 
banths and such things. We have no sex — not 
one of us except our king, who is bi-sexual. He 
produces many eggs from which we, the workers 
and the warriors, are hatched; and one in every 
thousand eggs is another king egg, from which a 
king is hatched. Did you notice the sealed openings 
in the room where you saw Luud? Sealed in each 
of those is another king. If one of them escaped 


86 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


he would fall upon Luud and try to kill him and if 
he succeeded we should have a new king; but there 
would be no difference. His name would be Luud 
antx all would go on as before, for are we not all 
alike? Luud has lived a long time and has pro- 
duced many kings, so he lets only a few live that 
there may be a successor to him when he dies. The 
others he kills.’’ 

“ Why does he keep more than one ? ” queried the 
girl. 

Sometimes accidents occur,” replied Ghek, 
‘‘and all the kings that a swarm has saved are 
killed. When this happens the swarm comes and 
obtains another king from a neighboring swarm.” 

‘‘ Are all of you the children of Luud ? ” she asked. 

‘‘All but a few, who are from the eggs of the 
preceding king, as was Luud; but Luud has lived 
a long time and not many of the others are left.” 

“You live a long time, or short?” Tara asked. 

“A very long time.” 

“And the rykors, too ; they live a long time ? ” 

“No; the rykors live for ten years, perhaps,” he 
said, “if they remain strong and useful. When 
they can no longer be of service to us, either through 
age or sickness, we leave them in the fields and the 
banths come at night and get them.” 

“ How horrible ! ” she exclaimed. 

“Horrible?” he repeated. “I see nothing hor- 
rible about that. The rykors are but brainless flesh. 


THE PERFECT BRAIN 


87 


They neither see, nor feel, nor hear. They can 
scarce move but for us. If we did not bring them 
food they would starve to death. They are lei'S 
deserving of thought than our leather. All that 
they can do for themselves is to take food from 
a trough and put it in their mouths, but with 
us — look at them ! and he proudly exhibited the 
noble figure that he surmounted, palpitant with life 
and energy and feeling. 

‘‘How do you do it?’’ asked Tara of Helium. 
“I do not understand it at all.” 

“I will show you,” he said, and lay down upon 
the floor. Then he detached himself from the body, 
which lay as a thing dead. On his spider legs he 
walked toward the girl. “Now look,” he admon- 
ished her. “Do you see this thing?” and he ex- 
tended what appeared to be a bundle of tentacles 
from the posterior part of his head. “ There is an 
aperture just back of the rykor’s mouth and directly 
over the upper end of his spinal column. Into this 
aperture I insert my tentacles and seize the spinal 
cord. Immediately I control every muscle of the 
rykor’s body — it becomes my own, just as you di- 
rect the movement of the muscles of your body. I 
feel what the rykor would feel if he had a head and 
brain. If he is hurt, I would suffer if I remained 
connected with him; but the instant one of them 
is injured or becomes sick we desert it for another. 
As we would suffer the pains of their physical in- 


88 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


juries, similarly do we enjoy the physical pleasures 
of the rykors. When your body becomes fatigued 
you are comparatively useless; if it is sick, you are 
sick; if it is killed, you die. You are the slave of 
a mass of stupid flesh and bone and blood. There 
is nothing more wonderful about your carcass than 
there is about the carcass of a banth. It is only 
your brain that makes you superior to the banth, 
but your brain is bound by the limitations of your 
body. Not so, ours. With us brain is everything. 
Ninety per centum of our volume is brain. We 
have only the simplest of vital organs and they are 
very small for they do not have to assist in the 
support of a complicated system of nerves, muscles, 
flesh, and bone. We have no lungs, for we do not 
require air. Far below the levels to which we can 
take the rykors is a vast network of burrows where 
the real life of the kaldane is lived. There the air- 
breathing rykor would perish as you would perish. 
There we have stored vast quantities of food in 
hermetically sealed chambers. It will last forever. 
Far beneath the surface is water that will flow for 
countless ages after the surface water is exhausted. 
We are preparing for the time we know must 
come — the time when the last vestige of the Bar- 
soomian atmosphere is spent — when the waters and 
the food are gone. For this purpose were we cre- 
ated, that there might not perish from the planet 
Nature's divinest creation — the perfect brain." 


THE PERFECT BRAIN 


89 


“ But what purpose can you serve when that time 
comes?’’ asked the girl. 

‘‘You do not understand,” he said. “It is too 
big for you to grasp, but I will try to explain it 
Barsoom, the moons, the sun, the stars, were cre- 
ated for a single purpose. From the beginning of 
time Nature has labored arduously toward the con- 
summation of this purpose. At the very beginning 
things existed with life, but with no brain. Grad- 
ually rudimentary nervous systems and minute 
brains evolved. Evolution proceeded. The brains 
became larger and more powerful. In us you see 
the highest development; but there are those of us 
who believe that there is yet another step — that 
some time in the far future our race shall develop 
into the super-thing — just brain. The incubus of 
legs and chelae and vital organs will be removed. 
The future kaldane will be nothing but a great brain, 
deaf, dumb, and blind it will lie sealed in its buried 
vault far beneath the surface of Barsoom — just a 
great, wonderful, beautiful brain with nothing to 
distract it from eternal thought.” 

“You mean it will just lie there and think?” 
cried Tara of Helium. 

“Just that!” he exclaimed. “Could aught be 
more wonderful?” 

“Yes,” replied the girl, “I can think of a num- 
ber of things that would be infinitely more won- 
derful.” 


CHAPTER VI 


IN THEJ TOILS OF HORROR 

W HAT the creature had told her gave Tara of 
Helium food for thought. She had been 
taught that every created thing fulfilled some useful 
purpose, and she tried conscientiously to discover 
just what was the rightful place of the kaldane in the 
universal scheme of things. She knew that it must 
have its place but what that place was it was beyond 
her to conceive. She had to give it up. They re- 
called to her mind a little group of people in Helium 
who had forsworn the pleasures of life in the pursuit 
of knowledge. They were rather patronizing in 
their relations with those whom they thought not 
so intellectual. They considered themselves quite 
superior. She smiled at recollection of a remark 
her father had once made concerning them, to the 
effect that if one of them ever dropped his egotism 
and broke it it would take a week to fumigate 
Helium. Her father liked normal people — people 
who knew too little and people who knew too much 
were equally a bore. Tara of Helium was like her 
father in this respect and like him, too, she was both 
sane and normal. 

Outside of her personal danger there was much 


90 


IN THE TOILS OF HORROR 


91 

in this strange world that interested her. The 
rykors aroused her keenest pity, and vast conjecture. 
How and from what form had they evolved ? She 
asked Ghek. 

‘‘ Sing to me again and I will tell you,” he said. 

If Luud would let me have you, you should never 
die. I should keep you always to sing to me.” 

The girl marvelled at the effect her voice had 
upon the creature. Somewhere in that enormous 
brain there was a chord that was touched by melody. 
It was the sole link between' herself and the brain 
when detached from the rykor. When it dominated 
the rykor it might have other human instincts; but 
these she dreaded even to think of. After she had 
sung she waited for Ghek to speak. For a long 
time he was silent, just looking at her through those 
awful eyes. 

wonder,” he said presently, ‘‘if it might not 
be pleasant to be of your race. Do you all sing?” 

“Nearly all, a little,” she said; “but we do many 
other interesting and enjoyable things. We dance 
and play and work and love and sometimes we 
fight, for we are a race of warriors.” 

“Love!” said the kaldane. “I think I know 
what you mean; but we, fortunately, are above 
sentiment — when we are detached. But when we 
dominate the rykor — ah, that is different, and when 
I hear you sing and look at your beautiful body I 
know what you mean by love. I could love you.” 


92 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


The girl shrank from him. ‘‘You promised to 
tell me the origin of the rykor/^ she reminded him. 

“Ages ago/^ he commenced, “our bodies were 
larger and our heads smaller. Our legs were very 
weak and we could not travel fast or far. There 
was a stupid creature that went upon four legs. It 
lived in a hole in the ground, to which it brought 
its food, so we ran our burrows into this hole and 
ate the food it brought ; but it did not bring enough 
for all — for itself and all the kaldanes that lived 
upon it, so we had also to go abroad and get food. 
This was hard work for our weak legs. Then it 
was that we commenced to ride upon the backs of 
these primitive rykors. It took many ages, un- 
doubtedly, but at last came the time when the kaldane 
had found means to guide the rykor, until presently 
the latter depended entirely upon the superior brain 
of his master to guide him to food. The brain of 
the rykor grew smaller as time went on. His ears 
went and his eyes, for he no longer had use for 
them — the kaldane saw and heard for him. By 
similar steps the rykor came to go upon its hind 
feet that the kaldane might be able to see farther. 
As the brain shrank, so did the head. The mouth 
was the only feature of the head that was used 
and so the mouth alone remains. Members of the 
red race fell into the hands of our ancestors from 
time to time. They saw the beauties and the ad- 
vantages of the form that nature had given the red 


m THE TOILS OF HORROR 


race over that which the rykor was developing into. 
By intelligent crossing the present rykor was 
achieved. He is really solely the product of the 
super-intelligence of the kaldane — he is our body, 
to do with as we see fit, just as you do what you see 
fit with your body, only we have the advantage of 
possessing an unlimited supply of bodies. Do you 
not wish that you were a kaldane? '^ 

For how long they kept her in the subterranean 
chamber Tara of Helium did not know. It seemed 
a very long time. She ate and slept and watched 
the interminable lines of creatures that passed the 
entrance to her prison. There was a laden line pass- 
ing from above carrying food, food, food. In the 
other line they returned empty handed. Whe» sho 
saw them she knew that it was daylight above. 
When they did not pass she knew it was night, and 
that the banths were about devouring the rykors 
that had been abandoned in the fields the previous 
day. She commenced to grow pale and thin. She 
did not like the food they gave her — it was not 
suited to her kind — nor would she have eaten 
overmuch palatable food, for the fear of becoming 
fat. The idea of plumpness had a new significance 
here — a horrible significance. 

Ghek noted that she was growing thin and white. 
He spoke to her about it and she told him that she 
could not thrive thus beneath the ground — that she 
must have fresh air and sunshine, or she would 


94 


THE 'CHESSMEN OF MARS 


wither and die. Evidently he carried her words to 
Luud, since it was not long after that he told her 
that the king had ordered that she be confined in 
the tower and to the tower she was taken. She had 
hoped against hope that this very thing might result 
from her conversation with Ghek. Even to see the 
sun again was something, but now there sprang to 
her breast a hope that she had not dared to nurse 
before, while she lay in the terrible labyrinth from 
which she knew she could never have found her 
way to the outer world; but now there was some 
slight reason to hope. At least she could see the 
hills and if she could see them might there not 
come also the opportunity to reach them? If she 
could have but ten minutes — just ten little 
minutes! The flier was still there — she knew 
that it must be. Just ten minutes and she would be 
free — free forever from this frightful place; but 
the days wore on and she was never alone, not even 
for half of ten minutes. Many times she planned 
her escape. Had it not been for the banths it had 
been easy of accomplishment by night. Ghek al- 
ways detached his body then and sank into what 
seemed a semi-comatose condition. It could not be 
said that he slept, or at least it did not appear like 
sleep, since his lidless eyes were unchanged ; but he 
lay quietly in a comer. Tara of Helium enacted a 
thousand times in her mind the scene of her escape. 
She would rush to the side of the rykor and seize 


IN THE TOILS OF HORROR 


95 


the sword that hung in its harness. Before Ghek 
knew what she purposed, she would do this and then 
before he could give an alarm she would drive the 
blade through his hideous head. It would take but 
a moment to reach the enclosure. The rykors could 
not stop her, for they had no brains to tell them 
that she was escaping. She had watched from her 
window the opening and closing of the gate that 
led from the enclosure out into the fields and she 
knew how the great latch operated. She would pass 
through and make a quick dash for the hill. It was 
so near that they could not overtake her. It was 
so easy ! Or it would have been but for the banths ! 
The banths at night and the workers in the fields 
by day. 

Confined to the tower and without proper exercise 
or food, the girl failed to show the improvercent 
that her captors desired. Ghek questioned her in 
an effort to learn why it was that she did not grow 
round and plump ; that she did not even look as well 
as when they had captured her. His concern was 
prompted by repeated inquiries on the part of Luud 
and finally resulted in suggesting to Tara of Helium 
a plan whereby she might find a new opportunity of 
escape. 

“I am accustomed to walking in the fresh air 
and the sunlight,’’ she told Ghek. “ I cannot become 
as I was before if I am to be always shut away in 
this one chamber, breathing poor air and getting no 


96 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


proper exercise. Permit me to go out in the fields 
every day and walk about while the sun is shining. 
Then, I am sure, I shall become nice and fat.’* 

“ You would run away,” he said. 

‘‘But how could I if you were always with me?” 
she asked. '‘And even if I wished to run away^ 
where could I go? I do not know even the direc- 
tion of Helium. It must be very far. The very 
first night the banths would get me, would they 
not?” 

"They would,” said Ghek. "I will ask Luud 
about it.” 

The following day he told her that Luud had 
said that she was to be taken into the fields. He 
would try that for a time and see if she improved. 

"If you do not grow fatter he will send for you 
anyway,” said Ghek ; " but he will not use you for 
food.” 

Tara of Helium shuddered. 

That day and for many days thereafter she was 
taken from the tower, through the enclosure and 
out into the fields. Always was she alert for an 
opportunity to escape; but Ghek was always close 
by her side. It was not so much his presence that 
deterred her from making the attempt as the num- 
ber of workers that were always between her and 
the hills where the flier lay. She could easily have 
eluded Ghek, but there were too many of the others. 
And then, one day, Ghek told her as he accom- 


IN THE TOILS OF HORROR 97 


panied her into the open that this would be the last 
time. 

‘'Tonight you go to Luud,” he said. ‘‘I am 
sorry as I shall not hear you sing again.” 

“Tonight!” She scarce breathed the word, yet 
it was vibrant with horror. 

She glanced quickly toward the hills. They were 
so close! Yet between were the inevitable work- 
ers — perhaps a score of them. 

“Let us walk over there?” she said, indicating 
them. “ I should like to see what they are doing.” 

“ It is too far,” said Ghek. “ I hate the sun. It 
is much pleasanter here where I can stand beneath 
the shade of this tree.” 

“All right,” she agreed; “then you stay here 
and I will walk over. It will take me but a minute.” 

“ No,” he answered. “ I will go with you. You 
want to escape ; but you are not going to.” 

“ I cannot escape,” she said. 

“ I know it,” agreed Ghek ; “ but you might try. 
I do not wish you to try. Possibly it will be better 
if we return to the tower at once. It would go 
hard with me should you escape.” 

Tara of Helium saw her last chance fading into 
oblivion. There would never be another after to- 
day. She cast about for some pretext to lure him 
even a little nearer to the hills. 

“It is very little that I ask,” she said. “Tonight 
you will want me to sing to you. It will be the 


98 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


last time. If you do not let me go and see what 
those kaldanes are doing I shall never sing to you 
again.’’ 

Ghek hesitated. ‘‘I will hold you by the arm 
all the time, then,” he said. 

“Why, of course, if you wish,” she assented. 
“ Come ! ” 

The two moved toward the workers and the hills, 
The little party was digging tubers from the 
ground. She had noted this and that nearly always 
they were stooped low over their work, the hideous 
eyes bent upon the upturned soil. She led Ghek 
quite close to them, pretending that she wished to 
see exactly how they did the work, and all the time 
he held her tightly by her left wrist. 

“ It is very interesting,” she said, with a sigh, and 
then, suddenly; “Look, Ghek!” and pointed quickly 
back in the direction of the tower. The kaldane, 
still holding her turned half away from her to look 
in the direction she had indicated and simulta- 
neously, with the quickness of a banth, she struck him 
with her right fist, backed by every ounce of strength 
she possessed — struck the back of the pulpy head 
just above the collar. The blow was sufficient to 
accomplish her design, dislodging the kaldane from 
its rykor and tumbling it to the ground. Instantly 
the grasp upon her wrist relaxed as the body, no 
longer controlled by the brain of Ghek, stumbled 
aimlessly about for an instant before it sank to its 


IN THE TOILS OF HORROR 


99 


knees and then rolled over on its back; but Tara 
of Helium waited not to note the full results of her 
act. The instant the fingers loosened upon her wrist 
she broke away and dashed toward the hills. Simul- 
taneously a warning whistle broke from Ghek’s lips 
and in instant response the workers leaped to their 
feet, one almost in the girl’s path. She dodged the 
outstretched arms and was away again toward the 
hills and freedom, when her foot caught in one of 
the hoe-like instruments with which the soil had 
been upturned and which had been left, half im- 
bedded in the ground. For an instant she ran on, 
stumbling, in a mad effort to regain her equilibrium, 
but the upturned furrows caught at her feet — again 
she stumbled and this time went down, and as she 
scrambled to rise again a heavy body fell upon her 
and seized her arms. A moment later she was sur- 
rounded and dragged to her feet and as she looked 
around she saw Ghek crawling to his prostrate 
rykor. A moment later he advanced to her side. 

The hideous face, incapable of registering emo- 
tion, gave no clue to what was passing in the enor- 
mous brain. Was he nursing thoughts of anger, of 
hate, of revenge? Tara of Helium could not guess, 
nor did she care. The worst had happened. She 
had tried to escape and she had failed. There 
would never be another opportunity. 

‘‘Come!” said Ghek. “We will return to the 
tower.” The deadly monotone of his voice was 


loo THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


unbroken. It was worse than anger, for it revealed 
nothing of his intentions. It but increased her 
horror of these great brains that were beyond the 
possibility of human emotions. 

And so she was dragged back to her prison in the 
tower and Ghek took up his vigil again, squatting 
by the doorway, but now he carried a naked sword 
in his hand and did not quit his rykor, only to 
change to another that he had brought to him when 
the first gave indications of weariness. The girl sat 
looking at him. He had not been unkind to her, 
but she felt no sense of gratitude, nor, on the other 
hand, any sense of hatred. The brains, incapable 
themselves of any of the finer sentiments, awoke 
none in her. She could not feel gratitude, or affec- 
tion, or hatred of them. There was only the same 
unceasing sense of horror in their presence. She 
had heard great scientists discuss the future of the 
red race and she recalled that some had maintained 
that eventually the brain would entirely dominate 
the man. There would be no more instinctive acts 
or emotions, nothing would be done on impulse ; but 
on the contrary reason would direct our every act. 
The propounder of the theory regretted that he 
might never enjoy the blessings of such a state, 
which, he argued, would result in the ideal life for 
mankind. Tara of Helium wished with all her heart 
that this learned scientist might be here to experi- 
ence to the full the practical results of the fulfillment 


IN THE TOILS OF HORROR loi 


of his prophecy. Between the purely physical rykcr 
and the purely mental kaldane there was little 
choice; but in the happy medium of normal, 
and imperfect, man, as she knew him, lay the most 
desirable state of existence. It would have been a 
splendid object lesson, she thought, to all those ideal- 
ists who seek mass perfection in any phase of human 
endeavor, since here they might discover the truth 
that absolute perfection is as little to be desired as 
is its antithesis. 

Gloomy were the thoughts that filled the mind 
of Tara of Helium as she awaited the summons 
from Luud — the summons that could mean for 
her but one thing; death. She guessed why he had 
sent for her and she knew that she must find the 
means for self-destruction before the night was 
over; but still she clung to hope and to life. She 
would not give up until there was no other way. 
She startled Ghek once by exclaiming aloud, almost 
fiercely: still live!” 

‘‘What do you mean?” asked the kaldane. 

“I mean just what I say,” she replied. “I still 
live and while I live I may still find a way. Dead, 
there is no hope.” 

“ Find a way to what? ” he asked. 

“ To life and liberty and mine own people,” she 
responded. 

“None who enters Bantoom ever leaves,” he 
droned. 


102 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


She did not reply and after a time he spoke again. 
‘‘ Sing to me/’ he said. 

It was while she was singing that four warriors 
came to take her to Luud. They told Ghek that 
he was to remain where he was. 

“Why?” asked Ghek. 

“ You have displeased Luud,” replied one of the 
warriors. 

“How?” demanded Ghek. 

“You have demonstrated a lack of uncontamin- 
able reasoning power. You have permitted senti- 
ment to influence you, thus demonstrating that you 
are a defective. You know the fate of defectives.” 

“ I know the fate of defectives, but I am no de- 
fective,” insisted Ghek. 

“You permitted the strange noises which issue 
from her throat to please and soothe you, knowing 
well that their origin and purpose had nothing what- 
ever to do with logic or the powers of reason. This 
in itself constitutes an unimpeachable indictment of 
weakness. Then, influenced doubtless by an illogi- 
cal feeling of sentiment, you permitted her to walk 
abroad in the fields to a place where she was able 
to make an almost successful attempt to escape. 
Your own reasoning power, were it not defective, 
would convince you that you are unfit. The natural, 
and reasonable, consequence is destruction. There- 
fore you will be destroyed in such a way that the 
example will be beneficial to all other kaldanes of 


IN THE TOILS OF HORROR T03 


the swarm of Luud. In the meantime you will re- 
main where you are/’ 

'‘You are right,” said Ghek. "I will remain 
here until Luud sees fit to destroy me in the most 
reasonable manner.” 

Tara of Helium shot a look of amazement at him 
as they led her from the chamber. Over her 
shoulder she called back to him: “Remember, 
Ghek, you still live ! ” Then they led her along the 
interminable tunnels to where Luud awaited her. 

When she was conducted into his presence he was 
squatting in a corner of the chamber upon his six 
spidery legs. Near the opposite wall lay his rykor, 
its beautiful form trapped in gorgeous harness — a 
dead thing without a guiding kaldane. Luud dis- 
missed the warriors who had accompanied the 
prisoner. Then he sat with his terrible eyes fixed 
upon her and without speaking for some time. Tara 
of Helium could but wait. What was to come she 
could only guess. When it came would be 
sufficiently the time to meet it. There was no ne- 
cessity for anticipating the end. Presently Luud 
spoke. 

“You think to escape,” he said, in the deadly, 
expressionless monotone of his kind — the only 
possible result of orally expressing reason uninflu- 
enced by sentiment. “You will not escape. You 
are merely the embodiment of two imperfect 
things — an imperfect brain and an imperfect 


104 the chessmen OF MARS 


body. The two cannot exist together in perfection. 
There you see a perfect body.'* He pointed toward 
the rykor. “ It has no brain. Here,” and he raised 
one of his chelae to his head, ‘Ms the perfect brain. 
It needs no body to function perfectly and properly 
as a brain. You would pit your feeble intellect 
against mine ! Even now you are planning to .slay 
me. If you are thwarted in that you expect to slay 
yourself. You will learn the power of mind over 
matter. I am the mind. You are the matter. 
What brain you have is too weak and ill-developed 
to deserve the name of brain. You have permitted 
it to be weakened by impulsive acts dictated by 
sentiment. It has no value. It has practically no 
control over your existence. You will not kill me. 
You will not kill yourself. When I am through 
with you you shall be killed if it seems the logical 
thing to do. You have no conception of the possi- 
bilities for power which lie in a perfectly developed 
brain. Look at that rykor. He has no brain. He 
can move but slightly of his own volition. An 
inherent mechanical instinct that we have permitted 
to remain in him allows him to carry food to his 
mouth; but he could not find food for himself. We 
have to place it within his reach and always in the 
same place. Should we put food at his feet and 
leave him alone he would starve to death. But now 
watch what a real brain may accomplish.” 

He turned his eyes upon the rykor and squatted 


IN THE TOILS OF HORROR 105 


there glaring at the insensate thing. Presently, to 
the girl’s horror, the headless body moved. It rose 
slowly to its feet and crossed the room to Luud; ft 
stooped and took the hideous head in its hands; it 
raised the head and set it on its shoulders. 

'‘What chance have you against such power?” 
asked Luud. "As I did with the rykor so can I do 
with you.” 

Tara of Helium made no reply. Evidently no 
vocal reply was necessary. 

"You doubt my ability!” stated Luud, which 
was precisely the fact, though the girl had only 
thought it — she had not said it. 

Luud crossed the room and lay down. Then he 
detached himself from the body and crawled across 
the floor until he stood directly in front of the cir- 
cular opening through which she had seen him 
emerge the day that she had first been brought to 
his presence. He stopped there and fastened his ter- 
rible eyes upon her. He did not speak, but his eyes 
seemed to be boring straight to the center of her 
brain. She felt an almost irresistible force urging 
her toward the kaldane. She fought to resist it; 
she tried to turn away her eyes, but she could not. 
They were held as in horrid fascination upon the 
glittering, lidless orbs of the great brain that faced 
her. Slowly, every step a painful struggle of resist- 
ance, she moved toward the horrific monster. She 
tried to cry aloud in an effort to awaken her numb- 


io6 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


ing faculties, but no sound passed her lips. If those 
eyes would but turn away, just for an instant, she 
felt that she might regain the power to control her 
steps; but the eyes never left hers. They seemed 
but to burn deeper and deeper, gathering up every 
vestige of control of her entire nervous system. 

As she approached the thing it backed slowl)^' away 
upon its spider legs. She noticed that its chelae 
waved slowly to and fro before it as it backed, 
backed, backed, through the round aperture in the 
wall. Must she follow it there, too? What new 
and nameless horror lay concealed in that hidden 
chamber? No! she would not do it. Yet before 
she reached the wall she found herself down and 
crawling upon her hands and knees straight toward 
the hole from which the two eyes still clung to hers. 
At the very threshold of the opening she made a 
last, heroic stand, battling against the force that 
drew her on; but in the end she succumbed. With 
a gasp that ended in a sob Tara of Helium passed 
through the aperture into the chamber beyond. 

The opening was but barely large enough to ad- 
mit her. Upon the opposite side she found herself 
in a small chamber. Before her squatted Luud. 
Against the opposite wall lay a large and beautiful 
male rykor. He was without harness or other 
trappings. 

‘‘You see now,’’ said Luud, “the futility of re- 
volt.” 


IN THE TOILS OF HORROR 107 


The words seemed to release her momentarily 
from the spell. Quickly she turned away her eyesc 

‘‘Look at me!” commanded Luud. 

Tara of Helium kept her eyes averted. She felt 
a new strength, or at least a diminution of the crea- 
ture’s power over her. Had she stumbled upon the 
secret of its uncanny domination over her will? 
She dared not hope. With eyes averted she turned 
toward the aperture through which those baleful 
eyes had drawn her. Again Luud commanded her 
to stop, but the voice alone lacked all authority to 
influence her. It was not like the eyes. She heard 
the creature whistle and knew that it was sum- 
moning assistance; but because she did not dare 
look toward it she did not see it turn and concen- 
trate its gaze upon the great, headless body lying 
by the further wall. 

The girl was still slightly under the spell of the 
creature’s influence — she had not regained full 
and independent domination of her powers. She 
moved as one in the throes of some hideous night- 
mare — slowly, painfully, as though each limb was 
hampered by a great weight, or as she were dragging 
her body through a viscous fluid. The aperture was 
dose, ah, so close, yet, struggle as she would, she 
seemed to be making no appreciable progress 
toward it. 

Behind her, urged on by the malevolent power of 
the great brain, the headless body crawled upon all- 


io8 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


fours toward her. At last she had reached the aper- 
ture. Something seemed to tell her that once beyond 
it the domination of the kaldane would be broken. 
She was almost through into the adjoining chamber 
when she felt a heavy hand close upon her ankle. 
The rykor had reached forth and seized her, and 
though she struggled the thing dragged her back 
into the room with Luud. It held her tight and 
drew her close, and then, to her horror, it com- 
menced to caress her. 

‘‘ You see now,” she heard Luud’s dull voice, ‘'the 
futility of revolt — and its punishment.” 

Tara of Helium fought to defend herself, but piti- 
fully weak were her muscles against this brainless 
incarnation of brute power. Yet she fought, fought 
on in the face of hopeless odds for the honor of the 
proud name she bore — fought alone, she whom the 
fighting men of a mighty empire, the flower of 
Martian chivalry, would gladljr have lain down their 
lives to save. 


CHAPTER VII 


A REPELLENT SIGHT 

T he CTuiser V mat or careened through the 
tempest. That she had not been dashed to* 
the ground, or twisted by the force of the elements 
into tangled wreckage, was due entirely to the 
caprice of Nature. For all the duration of the storm 
she rode, a helpless derelict, upon those storm- 
tossed waves of wind. But for all the dangers and 
vicissitudes they underwent, she and her crew 
might have borne charmed lives up to within an hour 
of the abating of the hurricane. It was then tha® 
the catastrophe occurred — a catastrophe indeed t(t 
the crew of the V amt or and the kingdom of Gathol. 

The men had been without food or drink since 
leaving Helium, and they had been hurled about 
and buffeted in their lashings until all were worn 
to exhaustion. There was a brief lull in the storm 
during which one of the crew attempted to reach 
his quarters, after releasing the lashings which had 
held him to the precarious safety of the deck. The 
act in itself was a direct violation of orders and, in 
the eyes of the other members of the crew, the effect, 
which came with startling suddenness, took the 
form of a swift and terrible retribution. Scarce 


109 


tio 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


had the man released the safety snaps ere a swift 
arm of the storm-monster encircled the ship, rolling 
it over and over, with the result that the foolhardy 
warrior went overboard at the first turn. 

Unloosed from their lashing by the constant turn- 
ing and twisting of the ship and the force of the 
wind, the boarding and landing tackle had been 
trailing beneath the keel, a tangled mass of cordage 
and leather. Upon the occasions that the Vanator 
rolled completely over, these things would be 
wrapped about her until another revolution in the 
opposite direction, or the wind itself, carried them 
once again clear of the deck to trail, whipping in 
the storm, beneath the hurtling ship. 

Into this fell the body of the warrior, and as a 
drowning man clutches at a straw so the fellow 
clutched at the tangled cordage that caught him 
and arrested his fall. With the strength of despera- 
tion he clung to the cordage, seeking frantically to 
entangle his legs and body in it. With each jerk 
of the ship his hand holds were all but torn loose, 
and though he knew that eventually they would be 
and that he must be dashed to the ground beneath, 
yet he fought with the madness that is born of hope- 
lessness for the pitiful seconds which but prolonged 
his agony. 

It was upon this sight then that Gahan of Gathol 
looked, over the edge of the careening deck of the 
Vanator, as he sought to learn the fate of his war- 


A REPELLENT SIGHT 


in 


rior. Lashed to the gunwale close at hand a single 
landing leather that had not fouled the tangled mass 
beneath whipped free from the ship’s side, the hook 
snapping at its outer end. The Jed of Gathol 
grasped the situation in a single glance. Below him 
one of his people looked into the eyes of Death. 
To the jed’s hand lay the means for succor. 

There was no instant’s hesitation. Casting aff 
his deck lashings, he seized the landing leather and 
slipped over the ship’s side. Swinging like a bob 
upon a mad pendulum he swung far out and back 
again, turning and twisting three thousand feet 
above the surface of Barsoom, and then, at last, 
the thing he had hoped for occurred. He was car- 
ried within reach of the cordage where the warrior 
still clung, though with rapidly diminishing strength. 
Catching one leg in a loop of the tangled strands 
Gahan pulled himself close enough to seize another 
quite near to the fellow. Clinging precariously to 
this new hold the jed slowly drew in the landing 
leather, down which he had clambered until he 
could grasp the hook at its end. This he fastened 
to a ring in the warrior’s harness, just before the 
man’s weakened fingers slipped from their hoM 
upon the cordage. 

Temporarily, at least, he had saved the life of 
his subject, and now he turned his attention toward 
insuring his own safety. Inextricably entangled in 
the mess to which he was clinging were numerous 


II2 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


other landing hooks such as he had attached to the 
warrior’s harness, and with one of these he sought 
to secure himself until the storm should abate suf- 
ficiently to permit him to climb to the deck, but even 
as he reached for one that swung near him the ship 
was caught in a renewed burst of the storm’s fury, 
the thrashing cordage whipped and snapped to the 
lunging of the great craft and one of the heavy 
metal hooks, lashing through the air, struck the 
Jed of Gathol fair between the eyes. 

Momentarily stunned, Gahan’s fingers slipped 
from their hold upon the cordage and the man shot 
downward through the thin air of dying Mars 
toward the ground three thousand feet beneath, 
while upon the deck of the rolling Vanator his faith- 
ful warriors clung to their lashings all unconscious 
of the fate of their beloved leader; nor was it until 
more than an hour later, after the storm had mate- 
rially subsided, that they realized he was lost, or 
knew the self-sacrificing heroism of the act that had 
sealed his doom. The Vanator now rested upon an 
even keel as she was carried along by a strong, 
though steady, wind. The warriors had cast off 
their deck lashings and the officers were taking ac- 
count of losses and damage when a weak cry was 
heard from oversides, attracting their attention to 
the man hanging in the cordage beneath the keel. 
Strong arms hoisted him to the deck and then 
it was that the crew of the Vanator learned of 


REPELLENT SIGHT 


113? 


the heroism of their jed and his end. How far 
they had traveled since his loss they could only 
vaguely guess, nor could they return in search of 
him in the disabled condition of the ship. It was 
a saddened company that drifted onward through 
the air toward whatever destination Fate was to 
choose for them. 

And Gahan, Jed of Gathol — what of him? 
Plummet-like he fell for a thousand feet and then 
the storm seized him in its giant clutch and bore 
him far aloft again. As a bit of paper borne upon 
a gale he was tossed about in mid-air, the sport and 
plaything of the wind. Over and over it turned him 
and upward and downward it carried him, but after 
each new sally of the element he was brought nearer 
to the ground. The freaks of cyclonic storms are 
the rule of cyclonic storms, since such storms are 
in themselves freaks. They uproot and demolish 
giant trees, and in the same gust they transport 
frail infants for miles and deposit them unharmed 
in their wake. 

And so it was with Gahan of Gathol. Expecting 
momentarily to be dashed to destruction he pres- 
ently found himself deposited gently upon the soft, 
ochre moss of a dead sea-bottom, bodily no worse 
off for his harrowing adventure than in the posses- 
sion of a slight swelling upon his forehead where 
the metal hook had struck him. Scarcely able to 
believe that Fate had dealt thus gently with him. 


TI4 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


the jed arose slowly, as though more than half con- 
vinced that he should discover crushed and splintered' 
bones that would not support his weight. But he 
was intact. He looked about him in a vain effort 
at orientation. The air was filled with flying dust 
and debris. The Sun was obliterated. His vision 
was confined to a radius of a few hundred yards 
of ochre moss and dust-filled air. Five hundred 
yards away in any direction there might have arisen 
the walls of a great city and he not known it. It 
was useless to move from where he was until the 
air cleared, since he could not know in what direc- 
tion he was moving, and so he stretched himself 
upon the moss and waited, pondering the fate of 
his warriors and his ship, but giving little thought 
to his own precarious situation. 

Lashed to his harness were his swords, his pistols, 
and a dagger, and in his pocket-pouch a small quan- 
tity of the concentrated rations that form a part 
of the equipment of the fighting men of Barsoom. 
These things together with trained muscles, high 
courage, and an undaunted spirit sufficed him for 
whatever misadventures might lie between him and 
Gathol, which lay in what direction he knew not, 
nor at what distance. 

The wind was falling rapidly and with it the 
dust that obscured the landscape. That the storm 
was over he was convinced, but he chafed at the 
inactivity the low visibility put upon him, nor did 


’A REPELLENT SIGHT 


113 . 

conditions better materially before night fell, so that 
he was forced to await the new day at the very 
spot at which the tempest had deposited him. With- 
out his sleeping silks and furs he spent a far from 
comfortable night, and it was with feelings c^f un- 
mixed relief that he saw the sudden dawn burst 
upon him. The air was now clear and in the light 
of the new day he saw an undulating plain stretch- 
ing in all directions about him, while to the north- 
west there were barely discernible the outlines of 
low hills. Toward the southeast of Gathol was 
such a country, and as Gahan surmised the direc- 
tion and the velocity of the storm to have carried 
him somewhere in the vicinity of the country he 
thought he recognized, he assumed that Gathol lay 
behind the hills he now saw, whereas, in reality, 
it lay far to the northeast. 

It was two days before Gahan had crossed the 
plain and reached the summit of the hills from 
which he hoped to see his own country, only to 
meet at last with disappointment. Before him 
stretched another plain, of even greater proportions 
than that he had but just crossed, and beyond this 
other hills. In one material respect this plain dif- 
fered from that behind him in that it was dotted 
with occasional isolated hills. Convinced, however, 
that Gathol lay somewhere in the direction of his 
search he descended into the valley and bent his 
steps toward the northwest. 


ri6 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


For weeks Gahan of Gathol crossed valleys and 
hills in search of some familiar landmark that might 
point his way toward his native land, but the sum- 
mit of each succeeding ridge revealed but another 
unfamiliar view. He saw few animals and no men, 
until he finally came to the belief that he had fallen 
upon that fabled area of ancient Barsoom which 
fay under the curse of her olden gods — the once 
rich and fertile country whose people in their pride 
and arrogance had denied the deities, and whose 
punishment had been extermination. 

And then, one day, he scaled low hills and looked 
into an inhabited valley — a valley of trees and 
cultivated fields and plots of ground enclosed by 
stone walls surrounding strange towers. He saw 
people working in the fields, but he did not rush 
down to greet them. First he must know more 
of them and whether they might be assumed to be 
friends or enemies. Hidden by concealing shrub- 
bery he crawled to a vantage point upon a hill that 
projected further into the valley, and here he lay 
upon his belly watching the workers closest to him. 
They were still quite a distance from him and he 
could not be quite sure of them, but there was some- 
thing verging upon the unnatural about them. Their 
heads seemed out of proportion to their bodies — 
too large. 

For a long time he lay watching them and ever 
more forcibly it was borne in upon his conscious- 


A REPELLENT SIGHT 


II 


ness that they were not as he, and that it would 
be rash to trust himself among them. Presently 
he saw a couple appear from the nearest enclosure 
and slowly approach those who were working near- 
est to the hill where he lay in hiding. Immediately 
he was aware that one of these differed from all the 
Olliers. Even at the greater distance he noted that 
the head was smaller and as they approached, he 
was confident that the harness of one of them was 
not as the harness of its companion or of that of 
any of those who tilled the fields. 

The two stopped often, apparently in argument, 
as though one would proceed in the direction that 
they were going while the other demurred. But 
each time the smaller won reluctant consent from 
the other, and so they came closer and closer to the 
last line of workers toiling between the enclosure 
from which they had come and the hill where Gahan 
of Gathol lay watching, and then suddenly the 
smaller figure struck its companion full in the face. 
Gahan, horrified, saw the latter’s head topple from 
its body, saw the body stagger and fall to the ground. 
The man half rose from his concealment the better 
to view the happenings in the valley below. The 
creature that had felled its companion was dashing 
madly in the direction of the hill upon which he 
was hidden, it dodged one of the workers that 
sought to seize it. Gahan hoped that it would gain 
its liberty, why he did not know- other than at 


ii8 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


closer range it had every appearance of being a 
creature of his own race. Then he saw it stumbfe 
and go down and instantly its pursuers were upon 
it. Then it was that Gahan’s eyes chanced to return 
to the figure of the creature the fugitive had felled. 

What horror was this that he was witnessing? 
Or were his eyes playing some ghastly joke upon 
him? No, impossible though it was — it was true 
— the head was moving slowly to the fallen body. 
It placed itself upon the shoulders, the body rose, 
and the creature, seemingly as good as new, ran 
quickly to where its fellows were dragging the 
hapless captive to its feet. 

The watcher saw the creature take its prisoner by 
the arm and lead it back to the enclosure, and even 
across the distance that separated them from him 
he could note dejection and utter hopelessness in the 
bearing of the prisoner, and, too, he was half con- 
vinced that it was a woman, perhaps a red Martian 
of his own race. Could he be sure that this was 
true he must make some effort to rescue her even 
though the customs of his strange world required 
it only in case she was of his own country; but 
he was not sure; she might not be a red Martian 
at all, or, if she were, it was as possible that she 
sprang from an enemy people as not. His first duty 
was to return to his own people with as little p^r-^ 
sonal risk as possible, and though the thought 
adventure stirred his blood he put the temptation 


A REPELLENT SIGHT 119 

aside with a sigh and turned away from the peace- 
ful and beautiful valley that he longed to enter, for 
it was his intention to skirt its eastern edge and 
continue his search for Gathol beyond. 

As Gahan of Gathol turned his steps along the 
southern slopes of the hills that bound Bantoom 
upon the south and east, his attention was attracted 
toward a small cluster of trees a short distance to 
his right. The low sun was casting long shadows. 
It would soon be night. The trees were off the 
path that he had chosen and he had little mind to 
be diverted from his way; but as he looked again 
he hesitated. There was something there besides 
boles of trees, and underbrush. There were sug- 
gestions of familiar lines of the handicraft of man. 
Gahan stopped and strained his eyes in the direc- 
tion of the thing that had arrested his attention. 
No, he must be mistaken — the branches of the 
trees and a low bush had taken on an unnatural 
semblance in the horizontal rays of the setting sun. 
He turned and continued upon his way; but as he 
cast another side glance in the direction of the ob- 
ject of his interest, the sun's rays were shot back 
into his eyes from a glistening point of radiance 
among the trees. 

Gahan shook his head and walked quickly toward 
the mystery, determined now to solve it. The shin- 
ing object still lured him on and when he had come 
closer to it his eyes went wide in surprise, for the 


120 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


thing they saw was naught else than the jewel-en- 
crusted emblem upon the prow of a small flier. 
Gahan, his hand upon his short-sword, moved 
silently forward, but as he neared the craft he saw 
that he had naught to fear, for it was deserted. 
Then he turned his attention toward the emblem. 
As its significance was flashed to his understanding 
his face paled and his heart went cold — it was the 
insignia of the house of The Warlord of Barsoom. 
Instantly he saw the dejected figure of the captive 
being led back to her prison in the valley just be- 
yond the hills. Tara of Helium! And he had been 
so near to deserting her to her fate. The cold sweat 
stood in beads upon his brow. 

A hasty examination of the deserted craft un- 
folded to the young jed the whole tragic story. The 
same tempest that had proved his undoing had borne 
Tara of Helium to this distant country. Here, 
doubtless, she had landed in hope of obtaining food 
and water since, without a propellor, she could not 
hope to reach her native city, or any other friendly 
port, other than by the merest caprice of*Fate. The 
flier seemed intact except for the missing propellor 
and the fact that it had been carefully moored in 
the shelter of the clump of trees indicated that the 
girl had expected to return to it, while the dust and 
leaves upon its deck spoke of the long days, and 
even weeks, since she had landed. Mute yet elo- 
quent proofs, these things, that Tara of Helium 


A REPELLENT SIGHT 


121 


was a prisoner, and that she was the very prisoner 
whose bold dash for liberty he had so recently wit- 
nessed he now had not the slightest doubt. 

The question now revolved solely about her 
rescue. He knew to which tower she had been 
taken — that much and no more. Of the number, 
the kind, or the disposition of her captors he knew 
nothing; nor did he care — for Tara of Helium he 
would face a hostile world alone. Rapidly he con- 
sidered several plans for succoring her; but the one 
that appealed most strongly to him was that which 
offered the greatest chance of escape for the girl 
should he be successful in reaching her. His de- 
cision reached he turned his attention quickly 
toward the flier. Casting off its lashings he dragged 
it out from beneath the trees, and, mounting to the 
deck tested out the various controls. The motor 
started at a touch and purred sweetly, the buoyancy 
tanks were well stocked, and the ship answered per- 
fectly to the controls which regulated her altitude. 
There was nothing needed but a propellor to make 
her fit for the long voyage to Helium. Gahan 
shrugged impatiently — there might not be a pro- 
pellor within a thousand haads. But what mattered 
it? The craft even without a propellor would still 
answer the purpose his plan required of it — pro- 
vided the captors of Tara of Helium were a peo- 
ple without ships, and he had seen nothing to 
suggest that they had ships. The architecture of 


122 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


their towers and enclosures assured him that they 
had not. 

The sudden Barsoomian night had fallen. Cluros 
rode majestically the high heavens. The rumbling 
roar of a banth reverberated among the hills. Gahan 
of Gathol let the ship rise a few feet from the 
ground, then, seizing a bow rope, he dropped over 
the side. To tow the little craft was now a thing 
of ease, and as Gahan moved rapidly toward the 
brow of the hill above Bantoom the flier floated 
behind him as lightly as a swan upon a quiet lake. 
Now down the hill toward the tower dimly visible 
in the moonlight the Gatholian turned his steps. 
Qoser behind him sounded the roar of the hunting 
banth. He wondered if the beast sought him or 
was following some other spoor. He could not be 
delayed now by any hungry beast of prey, for what 
might that very instant be befalling Tara of Helium 
he could not guess; and so he hastened his steps. 
But closer and closer came the horrid screams of 
the great carnivore, and now he heard the swift 
fall of padded feet upon the hillside behind him. 
He glanced back just in time to see the beast break 
into a rapid charge. His hand leaped to the hilt of 
his long-sword, but he did not draw, for in the 
same instant he saw the futility of armed resistance, 
since behind the first banth came a herd of at least 
a dozen others. There was but a single alternative 
to a futile stand and that he grasped in the instant 


A REPELLENT SIGHT 123 


that he saw the overwhelming numbers of his 
antagonists. 

Springing lightly from the ground he swarmed 
up the rope toward the bow of the flier. His weight 
drew the craft slightly lower and at the very in- 
stant that the man drew himself to the deck at 
the bow of the vessel, the leading banth sprang 
for the stern. Gahan leaped to his feet and rushed 
toward the great beast in the hope of dislodging 
it before it had succeeded in clambering aboard. 
At the same instant he saw that others of the banths 
were racing toward them with the quite evident 
intention of following their leader to the ship^s deck. 
Should they reach it in any numbers he would be 
lost. There was but a single hope. Leaping for 
the altitude control Gahan pulled it wide. Simul- 
taneously three banths leaped for the deck. The 
craft rose swiftly. Gahan felt the impact of a body 
against the keel, followed by the soft thuds of the 
great bodies as they struck the ground beneath. His 
act had not been an instant too soon. And now the 
leader had gained the deck and stood at the stem 
with glaring eyes and snarling jaws. Gahan drew 
his sword. The beast, possibly disconcerted by the 
novelty of its position, did not charge. Instead it 
crept slowly toward its intended prey. The craft 
was rising and Gahan placed a foot upon the con- 
trol and stopped the ascent. He did not wish to 
chance rising to some higher air current that would 


124 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


bear him away. Already the craft was moving 
slowly toward the tower, carried thither by the im- 
petus of the banth’s heavy body leaping upon it from 
astern. 

The man watched the slow approach of the mon- 
ster, the slavering jowls, the malignant expression 
of the devilish face. The creature, finding the deck 
stable, appeared to be gaining confidence, and then 
the man leaped suddenly to one side of the deck 
and the tiny flier heeled as suddenly in response. 
The banth slipped and clutched frantically at the 
deck. Gahan leaped in with his naked sword; the 
great beast caught itself and reared upon its hind 
legs to reach forth and seize this presumptuous 
mortal that dared question its right to the flesh it 
craved: and then the man sprang to the opposite, 
side of the deck. The banth toppled sideways ar 
the same instant that it attempted to spring; a rak- 
ing talon passed close to Gahan’s head at the moment 
that his sword lunged through the savage heart, and 
as the warrior wrenched his blade from the carcass 
it slipped silently over the side of the ship. 

A glance below showed that the vessel was drift- 
ing in the direction of the tower to which Gahan 
had seen the prisoner led. In another moment or 
two it would be directly over it. The man sprang 
to the control and let the craft drop quickly toward 
the ground where followed the banths, still hot for 
their prey. To land outside the enclosure spelled 


A REPELLENT SIGHT 


125 


certain death, while inside he could see many forms 
huddled upon the ground as in sleep. The ship 
floated now but a few feet above the wall of the 
enclosure. There was nothing for it but to risk 
all on a bold bid for fortune, or drift helplessly 
past without hope of returning through the banth- 
infested valley, from many points of which he 
could now hear the roars and growls of these fierce 
Barsoomian lions. 

Slipping over the side Gahan descended by the 
trailing anchor-rope until his feet touched the top 
of the wall, where he had no difficulty in arresting 
the slow drifting of the ship. Then he drew up 
the anchor and lowered it inside the enclosure. Still 
there was no movement upon the part of the sleep- 
ers beneath — they lay as dead men. Dull lights 
shone from openings in the tower; but there waa 
no sign of guard or waking inmate. Clinging to 
the rope Gahan lowered himself within the enclosure, 
where he had his first close view of the creatures 
lying there in what he had thought sleep. With 
a half smothered exclamation of horror the man 
drew back from the headless bodies of the rykors. 
At first he thought them the corpses of decapitated 
humans like himself, which was quite bad enough; 
but when he saw them move and realized that they 
were endowed with life, his horror and disgust be- 
came even greater. 

Here then was the explanation of the thing he 


126 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


had witnessed that afternoon, when Tara of Helium 
had struck the head from her captor and Gahan 
had seen the head crawl back to its body. And to 
think that the pearl of Helium was in the power 
of such hideous things as these. Again the man 
shuddered, but he hastened to make fast the flier, 
clamber again to its deck and lower it to the floor 
of the enclosure. Then he strode toward a door 
in the base of the tower, stepping lightly over the 
recumbent forms of the unconscious rykors, and 
crossing the threshold disappeared within. 


CHAPTER VIII 


close: work 

G HEK, in his happier days third foreman of 
the fields of Luud, sat nursing his anger and 
his humiliation. Recently something had awak- 
ened within him the existence of which he had 
never before even dreamed. Had the influence of 
the strange captive woman aught to do with this 
unrest and dissatisfaction? He did not know. He 
missed the soothing influence of the noise she called 
singing. Could it be that there were other things 
more desirable than cold logic and undefiled brain 
power? Was well balanced imperfection more to 
be sought after then, than the high development 
of a single characteristic? He thought of the great, 
ultimate brain toward which all kaldanes were 
striving. It would be deaf, and dumb, and blind. 
A thousand beautiful strangers might sing and dance 
ibout it, but it could derive no pleasure from the 
singing or the dancing since it would possess no per- 
ceptive faculties. Already had the kaldanes shut 
themselves off from most of the gratifications of 
the senses. Ghek wondered if much was to be 
gained by denying themselves still further, and with 
the thought came a question as to the whole fabric 
127 


128 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


of their theory. After all perhaps the girl was right ; 
what purpose could a great brain serve sealed in the 
bowels of the earth? 

And he, Ghek, was to die for this theory. Luud 
had decreed it. The injustice of it overwhelmed 
him with rage. But he was helpless. There was 
no escape. Beyond the enclosure the banths awaited 
him ; within, his own kind, equally as merciless and 
ferocious. Among them there was no such thing 
as love, or loyalty, or friendship — they were just 
brains. He might kill Luud; but what would that 
profit him? Another king would be loosed from 
his sealed chamber and Ghek would be killed. He 
did not know it but he would not even have the 
poor satisfaction of satisfied revenge, since he was 
not capable of feeling so abstruse a sentiment. 

Ghek, mounted upon his rykor, . paced the floor 
of the tower chamber in which he had been ordered 
to remain. Ordinarily he would have accepted the 
sentence of Luud with perfect equanimity, since it 
was but the logical result of reason; but now it 
seemed different. The stranger woman had be- 
witched him. Life appeared a pleasant thing — 
there were great possibilities in it. The dream of 
the ultimate brain had receded into a tenuous haze 
far in the background of his thoughts. 

At that moment there appeared in the doorway 
of the chamber a red warrior with naked sword. 
He was a male counterpart of the prisoner whose 


CLOSE WORK 


129 


sweet voice had undermined the cold, calculating 
reason of the kaldane. 

“ Silence I ” admonished the newcomer, his straight 
brows gathered in an ominous frown and the point 
of his long-sword playing menacingly before the 
eyes of the kaldane. “I seek the woman, Tara of 
Helium. Where is she? If you value your life 
speak quickly and speak the truth.” 

If he valued his life! It was a truth that Ghek 
had but just learned. He thought quickly. After 
all, a great brain is not without its uses. Perhaps 
here lay escape from the sentence of Luud. 

You are of her kind?” he asked. ‘‘You come 
to rescue her?” 

“Yes.” 

“Listen, then. I have befriended her, and be- 
cause of this I am to die. If I help you to lib- 
erate her, will you take me with you?” 

Gahan of Gathol eyed the weird creature from 
crown to foot — the perfect body, the grotesque 
head, the expressionless face. Among such as these 
had the beautiful daughter of Helium been held 
captive for days and weeks. 

“If she lives and is unharmed,” he said, “I will 
take you with us.” 

“ When they took her from me she was alive and 
unharmed,” replied Ghek. “ I cannot say what has 
befallen her since. Luud sent for her.” 

“ Who is Luud ? Where is he ? Lead me to him.*^ 


130 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Gahan spoke quickly in tones vibrant with authority. 

Come, then,’' said Ghek, leading the way from 
the apartment and down a stairway toward the 
underground burrows of the kaldanes. *‘Luud is 
my king. I will take you to his chambers.” 

‘‘Hasten!” urged Gahan. 

“Sheathe your sword,” warned Ghek, “so that 
should we pass others of my kind I may say to 
them that you are a new prisoner with some likeli- 
hood of winning their belief.” 

Gahan did as he was bid, but warning the kaldane 
that his hand was ever ready at his dagger’s hilt. 

“ You need have no fear of treachery,” said Ghek. 
“ My only hope of life lies in you.” 

“And if you fail me,” Gahan admonished him, 
“I can promise you as sure a death as even your 
king might guarantee you.” 

Ghek made no reply, but moved rapidly through 
the winding subterranean corridors until Gahan 
began to realize how truly was he in the hands of 
this strange monster. If the fellow should prove 
false it would profit Gahan nothing to slay him, 
since without his guidance the red man might never 
hope to retrace his way to the tower and freedom. 

Twice they met and were accosted by other 
kaldanes ; but in both instances Ghek’s simple state- 
ment that he was taking a new prisoner to Luud 
appeared to allay all suspicion, and then at last they 
came to the ante-chamber of the king. 


CLOSE WORK 


131 


Here, now, red man, thou must fight, if ever,’’ 
whispered Ghek. ‘‘Enter there!” and he pointed 
to a doorway before them. 

“And you?” asked Gahan, still fearful of 
treachery. 

“ My rykor is powerful,” replied the kaldane. “ I 
shall accompany you and fight at your side. As 
well die thus as in torture later at the will of Luud. 
Come I ” 

But Gahan had already crossed the room and 
entered the chamber beyond. Upon the opposite 
side of the room was a circular opening guarded by 
two warriors. Beyond this opening he could see 
two figures struggling upon the floor, and the fleet- 
ing glimpse he had of one of the faces suddenly 
endowed him with the strength of ten warriors and 
the ferocity of a wounded banth. It was Tara of 
Helium, fighting for her honor or her life. 

The warriors, startled by the unexpected appear- 
ance of a red man, stood for a moment in dumb 
amazement, and in that moment Gahan of Gathol 
was upon them, and one was down, a sword-thrust 
through its heart. 

“Strike at the heads,” whispered the voice of 
Ghek in Gahan’s ear. The latter saw the head of 
the fallen warrior crawl quickly within the aperture 
leading to the chamber where he had seen Tara 
of Helium in the clutches of a headless body. Then 
the sword of Ghek struck the kaldane of the remain- 


132 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


ing warrior from its rykor and Gahan ran his sword 
through the repulsive head. 

Instantly the red warrior leaped for the aperture, 
while close behind him came Ghek. 

‘‘Look not upon the eyes of Luud/’ warned the 
kaldane, “or you are lost.’' 

Within the chamber Gahan saw Tara of Helium 
in the clutches of a mighty body, while close to the 
wall upon the opposite side of the apartment 
crouched the hideous, spider-like Luud. Instantly 
the king realized the menace to himself and sought 
to fasten his eyes upon the eyes of Gahan, and in 
doing so he was forced to relax his concentration 
upon the rykor in whose embraces Tara struggled, 
so that almost immediately the girl found herself 
able to tear away from the awful, headless thing. 

As she rose quickly to her feet she saw for the 
first time the cause of the interruption of Luud’s 
plans. A red warrior! Her heart leaped in rejoic- 
ing and thanksgiving. What miracle of fate had 
sent him to her ? She did not recognize him, though, 
this travel-worn warrior in the plain harness which 
showed no single jewel. How could she have 
guessed him the same as the scintillant creature of 
platinum and diamonds that she had seen for a brief 
hour under such different circumstances at the court 
of her august sire? 

Luud saw Ghek following the strange warrior 
into the chamber. “ Strike him down, Ghek ! ” com- 


CLOSE WORK 


^33 

manded the king’. Strike down the stranger and 
your lifa shall be yours.'' 

Gahan glanced at the hideous face of the king. 
‘‘Seek not his eyes," screamed Tara in warn- 
ing; but it was too late. Already the horrid 
hypnotic gaze of the king kaldane had seized upon 
the eyes of Gahan. The red warrior hesitated in 
his stride. His sword point drooped slowly toward 
the floor. Tara glanced toward Ghek. She saw 
the creature glaring with his expressionless eyes 
upon the broad back of the stranger. She saw the 
hand of the creature's rykor creeping stealthily^ 
toward the hilt of its dagger. 

And then Tara of Helium raised her eyes aloft 
and poured forth the notes of Mars’ most beautiful 
melody, The Song of Love, 

Ghek drew his dagger from its sheath. His 
eyes turned toward the singing girl. Luud's glance 
wavered from the eyes of the man to the face of 
Tara, and the instant that the latter's song dis- 
tracted his attention from his victim, Gahan of 
Gathol shook himself and as with a supreme effort 
of will forced his eyes to the wall above Luud's 
hideous head. Ghek raised his dagger above his 
right shoulder, took a single quick step forward, 
and struck. The girl's song ended in a stifled 
scream as she leaped forward with the evident 
intention of frustrating the kaldane's purpose; but 
she was too late, and well it was, for an instant 


134 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


later she realized the purpose of Ghek’s act as she 
saw the dagger fly from his hand, pass Gahan’s 
shoulder, and sink full to the guard in the soft 
face of Luud. 

‘‘Come!” cried the assassin, “we have no time 
to lose,” and started for the aperture through which 
they had entered the chamber; but in his stride he 
paused as his glance was arrested by the form of 
the mighty rykor lying prone upon the floor — a 
king’s rykor; the most beautiful, the most power- 
ful, that the breeders of Bantoom could produce. 
Ghek realized that in his escape he could take with 
him but a single rykor, and there was none in Ban- 
toom that could give him better service than this 
giant lying here. Quickly he transferred himself 
to the shoulders of the great, inert hulk. Instantly 
the latter was transformed to a sentient creature, 
filled with pulsing life and alert energy. 

“Now,” said the kaldane, “we are ready. Let 
whoso would revert to nothingness impede me.” 
Even as he spoke he stooped and crawled into the 
chamber beyond, while Gahan, taking Tara by the 
arm, motioned her to follow. The girl looked him 
full in the eyes for the first time. “The Gods of 
my people have been kind,” she said; “you came 
just in time. To the thanks of Tara of Helium 
shall be added those of The Warlord of Barsoom 
and his people. Thy reward shall surpass thy 
greatest desires.” 


CLOSE WORK 


Gahan of Gathol saw that she did not recognize 
him, and quickly he checked the warm greeting 
that had been upon his lips. 

‘‘Be thou Tara of Helium or another,'' he re- 
plied, “is immaterial, to serve thus a red woman 
of Barsoom is in itself sufficient reward." 

As they spoke the girl was making her way 
through the aperture after Ghek, and presently all 
three had quitted the apartments of Luud and were 
moving rapidly along the winding corridors toward 
the tower. Ghek repeatedly urged them to greater 
speed, but the red men of Barsoom were never keen 
for retreat, and so the two that followed him moved 
all too slowly for the kaldane. 

“ There are none to impede our progress," urged 
Gahan, “so why tax the strength of the Princess 
by needless haste?" 

“ I fear not so much opposition ahead, for there 
are none there who know the thing that has been 
done in Luud's chambers this night ; but the kaldane 
of one of the warriors who stood guard before 
Luud's apartment escaped, and you may count it 
a truth that he lost no time in seeking aid. That 
it did not come before we left is due solely to the 
rapidity with which events transpired in the king's* 

1 I have used the word king in describing the rulers or chiefs of the 
Bantoomian swarms, since the word itself is unpronounceable in English, 
nor does jed or jeddak of the red Martian tongue have quite the same 
meaning as the Bantoomian word, which has practically the same signifi- 
cance as the English word queen as applied to the leader of a swarm 
of bees. — ^J. C. 


.36 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


room. Long before we reach the tower they will 
be upon us from behind, and that they will come in 
numbers far superior to ours and with great and 
powerful rykors I well know.’^ 

Nor was Ghek’s prophecy long in fulfilment. 
Presently the sounds of pursuit became audible in 
the distant clanking of accouterments and the 
whistling call to arms of the kaldanes. 

“The tower is but a short distance now,” cried 
Ghek. “ Make haste while yet you may, and if we 
can barricade it until the sun rises we may yet 
escape.” 

“We shall need no barricades for we shall not 
linger in the tower,” replied Gahan, moving more 
rapidly as he realized from the volume of sound be- 
hind them the great number of their pursuers. 

“But we may not go further than the tower 
tonight,” insisted Ghek. “ Beyond the tower await 
the banths and certain death.” 

Gahan smiled. “Fear not the banths,” he as- 
sured them. “Can we but reach the enclosure a 
little ahead of our pursuers we have naught to fear 
from any evil power within this accursed valley.” 

Ghek made no reply, nor did his expressionless 
face denote either belief or skepticism. The girl 
looked into the face of the man questioningly. She 
did not understand. 

“Your flier,” he said. “It is moored before the 
tower.” 


CLOSE WORK 


137 


Her face lighted with pleasure and relief. ‘‘ You 
found it ! ’’ she exclaimed. “ What fortune ! 

“It was fortune indeed/’ he replied. “Since it 
not only told that you were a prisoner here; but it 
saved me from the banths as I was crossing the 
valley from the hills to this tower into which I saw 
them take you this afternoon after your brave at- 
tempt at escape.” 

“How did you know it was I?” she asked, 
her puzzled brows scanning his face as though she 
sought to recall from past memories some scene in 
which he figured. 

“Who is there but knows of the loss of the 
Princess Tara of Helium ? ” he replied. “And when 
I saw the device upon your flier I knew at once, 
though I had not known when I saw you among 
them in the fields a short time earlier. Too great 
was the distance for me to make certain whether 
their captive was man. or woman. Had chance not 
divulged the hiding place of your flier I had gone 
my way, Tara of Helium. I shudder to think how 
close was the chance at that. But for the momen- 
tary shining of the sun upon the emblazoned device 
on the prow of your craft, I had passed on un- 
knowing.” 

The girl shuddered. “The Gods sent you,” she 
whispered reverently. 

“The Gods sent me, Tara of Helium,” he replied. 

“ But I do not recognize you,” she said. “ I have 


138 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


tried to recall you, but I have failed. Your name; 
what may it be ? '' 

It is not strange that so great a princess should 
not recall the face of every roving panthan of Bar- 
soom,” he replied with a smile. 

‘‘ But your name ? insisted the girl. 

‘‘Call me Turari/' replied the man, for it had 
come to him that if Tara of Helium recognized him 
as the man whose impetuous avowal of love had 
angered her that day in the gardens of The War- 
lord, her situation might be rendered infinitely less 
bearable than were she to believe him a total 
stranger. Then, too, as a simple panthan^ he might 
win a greater degree of her confidence by his loyalty 
and faithfulness and a place in her esteem that 
seemed to have been closed to the resplendent Jed of 
Gathol. 

They had reached the tower now, and as they 
entered it from the subterranean corridor a back- 
ward glance revealed the van of their pur- 
suers — hideous kaldanes mounted upon swift and 
powerful rykors. As rapidly as might be the three 
ascended the stairways leading to the ground level, 
but after them, even more rapidly, came the minions 
of Luud. Ghek led the way, grasping one of Tara's 
hands the more easily to guide and assist her, while 
Gahan of Gathol followed a few paces in their rear, 
his bared sword ready for the assault that all real- 


* Soldier of Fortune; free-lance warrior. 


CLOSE WORK 


139 


ized must come upon them now before ever they 
reached the enclosure and the flier. 

“ Let Ghek drop behind to your side,” said Tara, 
‘‘ and fight with you.” 

“There is but room for a single blade in these 
narrow corridors,” replied the Gatholian. “ Hasten 
on with Ghek and win to the deck of the flier. Have 
your hand upon the control, and if I come far 
enough ahead of these to reach the dangling cable 
you can rise at my word and I can clamber to the 
deck at my leisure; but if one of them emerges first 
into the enclosure you will know that I shall never 
come, and you will rise quickly and trust to the Gods 
of our ancestors to give you a fair breeze in the 
direction of a more hospitable people.” 

Tara of Helium shook her head. “We will not 
desert you, panthan,” she said. 

Gahan, ignoring her reply, spoke above her ,head 
to Ghek. “ Take her to the craft moored within the 
enclosure,” he commanded. “It is our only hope. 
Alone, I may win to its deck; but have I to wait 
upon you two at the last moment the chances are 
that none of us will escape. Do as I bid.” His 
tone was haughty and arrogant — the tone of a man 
who has commanded other men from birth, and 
whose will has been law. Tara of Helium was both 
Sangered and vexed. She was not accustomed to 
being either commanded or ignored; but with all 
her royal pride she was no fool, and she knew the 


140 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


man was right ; that he was risking his life to save 
hers, so she hastened on with Ghek as she was bid, 
and after the first flush of anger she smiled, for 
the realization came to her that this fellow was but 
a rough untutored warrior, skilled not in the finer 
usages of cultured courts. His heart was right, 
though; a brave and loyal heart, and gladly she 
forgave him the offense of his tone and manner. 
But what a tone! Recollection of it gave her 
sudden pause. Panthans were rough and ready 
men. Often they rose to positions of high command, 
so it was not the note of authority in the fellow’s 
voice that seemed remarkable ; but something 
else — a quality that was indefinable, yet as distinct 
as it was familiar. She had heard it before when 
the voice of her great-grandsire, Tardos Mors, 
Jeddak of Helium, had risen in command; and in 
the voice of her grandfather. Mors Kajak, the jed; 
and in the ringing tones of her illustrious sire, John 
Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, when he addressed 
his warriors. 

But now she had no time to speculate upon so 
trivial a thing, for behind her came the sudden 
iclash of arms and she knew that Turan, the panthan, 
had crossed swords with the first of their pursuers. 
As she glanced back he was still visible beyond a 
turn in the stairway, so that she could see the quick 
sw’ordplay that ensued. Daughter of a world’s 
greatest swordsman, she knew well the finest points 


CLOSE WORK 


141 


of the art. She saw the clumsy attack of the kal- 
dane and the quick, sure return of the panthan. As 
she looked down from above upon his almost naked 
body, trapped only in the simplest of unadorned 
harness, and saw the play of the lithe muscles be- 
neath the red-bronze skin, and witnessed the quick 
and delicate play of his sword point, to her sense 
of obligation was added a spontaneous admission 
of admiration that was but the natural tribute of a 
woman to skill and bravery and, perchance, some 
trifle to manly symmetry and strength. 

Three times the panthan’s blade changed its posi- 
tion — once to fend a savage cut; once to feint; and 
once to thrust. And as he withdrew it from the 
last position the kaldane rolled lifeless from its 
stumbling rykor and Turan sprang quickly down the 
steps to engage the next behind, and then Ghek had 
drawn Tara upward and a turn in the stairway shut 
the battling panthan from her view; but still she 
heard the ring of steel on steel, the clank of accout- 
erments and the shrill whistling of the kaldanes. 
Her heart moved her to turn back to the side of her 
brave defender; but her judgment told her that she 
could serve him best by being ready at the control 
of the flier at the moment he reached the enclosure. 


CHAPTER IX 


ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 

P RESENTLY Ghek pushed aside a door that 
opened from the stairway, and before them 
Tara saw the moonlight flooding the walled court 
where the headless rykors lay beside their feeding- 
troughs. She saw the perfect bodies, muscled as 
the best of her father’s fighting men, and the females 
whose figures would have been the envy of many 
of Helium’s most beautiful women. Ah, if she 
could but endow these with the power to act ! Then, 
indeed might the safety of the panthan be assured ; 
but they were only poor lumps of clay, nor had 
she the power to quicken them to life. Ever must 
they lie thus until dominated by the cold, heartless 
brain of the kaldane. The girl sighed in pity even 
as she shuddered in disgust as she picked her way 
over and among the sprawled creatures toward the 
flier. 

Quickly she and Ghek mounted to the deck after 
the latter had cast off the moorings. Tara tested 
the control, raising and lowering the ship a few feet 
within the walled space. It responded perfectly. 
Then she lowered it to the ground again and waited. 
From the open doorway came the sovmds of conflict, 
142 


ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 143- 


now nearing them, now receding. The girl, having 
witnessed her champion’s skill, had little fear of the 
outcome. Only a single antagonist could face him 
at a time upon the narrow stairway, he had the 
advantage of position and of the defensive, and he 
was a master of the sword while they were clumsy 
bunglers by comparison. Their sole advantage was 
in their numbers, unless they might find a way to 
come upon him from behind. 

She paled at the thought. Could she have seen 
him she might have been further perturbed, for he 
took no advantage of many opportunities to win 
nearer the enclosure. He fought coolly, but with 
a savage persistence that bore little semblance to 
purely defensive action. Often he clambered over 
the body of a fallen foe to leap against the next 
behind, and once there lay five dead kaldanes behind 
him, so far had he pushed back his antagonists. 
They did not know it, these kaldanes that he fought, 
nor did the girl awaiting him upon the flier, but 
Gahan of Gathol was engaged in a more alluring 
sport than winning to freedom, for he was avenging 
the indignities that had been put upon the woman 
le loved; but presently he realized that he might 
be jeopardizing her safety uselessly, and so he struck 
down another before him and turning leaped quickly 
up the stairway, while the leading kaldanes slipped 
upon the brain-covered floor and stumbled in pursuit. 

Gahan reached the enclosure twenty paces ahead 


144 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


of them and raced toward the flier. ^‘Rise!^^ he 
shouted to the girl. ‘‘ I will ascend the cable.'’ 

Slowly the small craft rose from the ground as 
Gahan leaped the inert bodies of the r3dcors lying in 
his path. The first of the pursuers sprang from the 
tower just as Gahan seized the trailing rope. 

“ Faster ! " he shouted to the girl above, ‘‘ or they 
will drag us down ! ” But the ship seemed scarcely 
to move, though in reality she was rising as rapidly 
as might have been expected of a one-man flier 
carrying a load of three. Gahan swung free above 
the top of the wall, but the end of the rope still 
dragged the ground as the kaldanes reached it. 
They were pouring in a steady stream from the 
tower into the enclosure. The leader seized the 
rope. 

“ Quick ! " he cried. “ Lay hold and we will drag 
them down." 

It needed but the weight of a few to accomplish 
his design. The ship was stopped in its flight and 
then, to the horror of the girl, she felt it being 
dragged steadily downward. Gahan, too, realized 
the danger and the necessity for instant action. 
Clinging to the rope with his left hand, he had 
wound a leg about it, leaving his right hand free 
for his long-sword which he had not sheathed. A 
downward cut clove the soft head of a kaldane, and 
another severed the taut rope beneath the panthan’s 
feet. The girl heard a sudden renewal of the shrill 


ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 145 


whistling of her foes, and at the same time she 
realized that the craft was rising again. Slowly it 
drifted upward, out of reach of the enemy, and a 
moment later she saw the figure of Turaii clamber 
over the side. For the first time in many weeks 
her heart was filled with the joy of thanksgiving; 
but her first thought was of another. 

You are not wounded ? ’’ she asked. 

"‘No, Tara of Helium,’’ he replied. “They were 
scarce worth the effort of my blade, and never were 
they a menace to me because of their swords.” 

“ They should have slain you easily,” said Ghek. 
“So great and highly developed is the power of 
reason among us that they should have known be- 
fore you struck just where, logically, you must seek 
to strike, and so they should have been able to parry 
your every thrust and easily find an opening to your 
heart.” 

“ But they did not, Ghek,” Gahan reminded him. 
“ Their theory of development is wrong, for it does 
not tend toward a perfectly balanced whole. You 
have developed the brain and neglected the body and 
you can never do with the hands of another what 
you can do with your own hands. Mine are trained 
to the sword — every muscle responds instantly and 
accurately, and almost mechanically, to the need of 
the instant. I am scarcely objectively aware that 
I think when I fight, so quickly does my point taks 
advantage of every opening, or spring to my de- 


146 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


fense if I am threatened that it is almost as though 
the cold steel had eyes and brains. You, with your 
kaldane brain and your rykor body, never could 
hope to achieve in the same degree of perfection 
those things that I can achieve. Development of 
the brain should not be the sum total of human 
endeavor. The richest and happiest peoples will be 
those who attain closest to well-balanced perfection 
of both mind and body, and even these must always 
be short of perfection. In absolute and general per- 
fection lies stifling monotony and death. Nature 
must have contrasts ; she must have shadows as well 
as high lights; sorrow with happiness; both wrong 
and right; and sin as well as virtue.’' 

‘‘Always have I been taught differently,” replied 
Ghek; “but since I have known this woman and 
you, of another race, I have come to believe that 
there may be other standards fully as high and de- 
sirable as those of the kaldanes. At least I have had 
a glimpse of the thing you call happiness and I real- 
ize that it may be good even though I have no means 
of expressing it. I cannot laugh nor smile, and yet 
within me is a sense of contentment when this 
woman sings — a sense that seems to open before 
me wondrous vistas of beauty and unguessed 
pleasure that far transcend the cold joys of a per- 
fectly functioning brain. I would that I had been 
born of thy race.” 

Caught by a gentle current of air the flier was 


'ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 147 


drifting slowly toward the northeast across the 
valley of Bantoom. Below them lay the cultivated 
fields, and one after another they passed over the 
strange towers of Moak and Nolach and the other 
, kings of the swarms that inhabited this weird and 
terrible land. Within each enclosure surrounding 
the towers grovelled the rykors, repellent, headless 
things, beautiful yet hideous. 

lesson, those,” remarked Gahan, indicating 
the rykors in an enclosure above which they were 
drifting at the time, ‘‘to that fortunately small mi- 
nority of our race which worships the flesh and 
makes a god of appetite. You know them, Tara 
of Helium; they can tell you exactly what they 
had at the midday meal two weeks ago, and how the 
loin of the thoat should be prepared, and what 
drink should be served with the rump of the 
zitidar.” 

Tara of Helium laughed. “ But not one of them 
could tell you the name of the man whose painting 
took the Jeddak’s Award in The Temple of Beauty 
this year,” she said. “Like the rykors, their de- 
velopment has not been balanced.” 

“Fortunate indeed are those in which there is 
combined a little good and a little bad, a little 
knowledge of many things outside their own call- 
ings, a capacity for love and a capacity for hate, 
for such as these can look with tolerance upon 
all, unbiased by the egotism of him whose head is 


148 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


so heavy on one side that all his brains run to that 
point.” 

As Gahan ceased speaking Ghek made a little 
noise in his throat as one does who would attract 
attention. ‘‘You speak as one who has thought 
much upon many subjects. Is it, then, possible that 
you of the red race have pleasure in thought? Do 
you know aught of the joys of introspection? Do 
reason and logic form any part of your lives ? ” 

“Most assuredly,” replied Gahan, “but not to 
the extent of occupying all our time — at least not 
objectively. You, Ghek, are an example of the 
egotism of which I spoke. Because you and your 
kind devote your lives to the worship of mind, you 
believe that no other created beings think. And 
possibly we do not in the sense that you do, who 
think only of yourselves and your great brains. We 
think of many things that concern the welfare of a 
world. Had it not been for the red men of Barsoom 
even the kaldanes had perished from the planet, for 
while you may live without air the things upon 
which you depend for existence cannot, and there 
had been no air in sufficient quantities upon Barsoom 
these many ages had not a red man planned and 
built the great atmosphere plant which gave new 
life to a dying world. 

“What have all the brains of all the kaldanes 
that have ever lived done to compare with that 
single idea of a single red man ? ” 


^ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 149 


Ghek was stumped. Being a kaldane he knew 
that brains spelled the sum total of universal 
achievement, but it had never occurred to him that 
they should be put to use in practical and profitable 
ways. He turned away and looked down upon the 
valley of his ancestors across which he was slowly 
drifting, into what unknown world? He should 
be a veritable god among the underlings, he knew; 
but somehow a doubt assailed him. It was evident 
that these two from that other world were ready 
to question his preeminence. Even through his 
great egotism was filtering a suspicion that they 
patronized him ; perhaps even pitied him. Then he 
began to wonder what was to become of him. No 
longer would he have many rykors to do his bidding. 
Only this single one and when it died there could 
not be another. When it tired, Ghek must lie almost 
helpless while it rested. He wished that he had 
never seen this red woman. She had brought him 
only discontent and dishonor and now exile. Pres- 
ently Tara of Helium commenced to hum a tune and 
Ghek, the kaldane, was content. 

Gently they drifted beneath the hurtling moons 
above the mad shadows of a Martian night. The 
roaring of the banths came in diminishing volume 
to their ears as their craft passed on beyond the 
boundaries of Bantoom, leaving behind the terrors 
of that unhappy land. But to what were they being 
borne ? The girl looked at the man sitting cross-legged 


150 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


upon the deck of the tiny flier, gazing off into the 
night ahead, apparently absorbed in thought. 

“Where are we?'’ she asked. “Toward what 
are we drifting?” 

Turan shrugged his broad shoulders. “ The stars 
tell me that we are drifting toward the northeast,” 
he replied, “but where we are, or what lies in our 
path I cannot even guess. A week since I could 
have sworn that I knew what lay behind each suc- 
ceeding ridge that I approached; but now I admit 
in all humility that I have no conception of what 
lies a mile in any direction. Tara of Helium, I am 
lost, and that is all that I can tell you.” 

He was smiling and the girl smiled back at him. 
There was a slightly puzzled expression on her 
face — there was something tantalizingly familiar 
about that smile of his. She had met many a 
panthan — they came and went, following the fight- 
ing of a world — but she could not place this one. 

“ From what country are you, Turan?” she asked 
suddenly. 

“ Know you not, Tara of Helium,” he countered, 
“that a panthan has no country? Today he fights 
beneath the banner of one master, tomorrow be- 
neath that of another.” 

“ But you must own allegiance to some country 
when you are not fighting,” she insisted. “What 
banner, then, owns you now ? ” 

He rose and stood before her, then, bowing low. 


ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 151 


‘‘And I am acceptable/’ he said, “I serve beneath 
the banner of the daughter of The Warlord 
now — and forever.” 

She reached forth and touched his arm with ai 
slim brown hand. “Your services are accepted,” 
she said; “and if ever we reach Helium I promise 
that your reward shall be all that your heart could 
desire.” 

“I shall serve faithfully, hoping for that re- 
ward,” he said; but Tara of Helium did not guess 
what was in his mind, thinking rather that he was 
mercenary. For how could the proud daughter of 
The Warlord guess that a simple panthan aspired 
to her hand and heart? 

The dawn found them moving rapidly over an 
unfamiliar landscape. The wind had increased 
during the night and had borne them far from Ban- 
toom. The country below them was rough and 
inhospitable. No water was visible and the surface 
of the ground was cut by deep gorges, while nowhere 
was any but the most meager vegetation discernible. 
They saw no life of any nature, nor was there any 
indication that the country could support life. For 
two days they drifted over this horrid wasteland. 
They were without food or water and suffered ac- 
cordingly. Ghek had temporarily abandoned his 
rykor after enlisting Turan’s assistance in lashing 
it safely to the deck. The less he used it the less 
would its vitality be spent. Already it was showing 


152 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


the effects of privation. Ghek crawled about the 
vessel like a great spider — over the side, down be- 
neath the keel, and up over the opposite rail. He 
seemed equally at home one place as another. For 
his companions, however, the quarters were 
cramped, for the deck of a one-man flier is not in- 
tended for three. 

Turan sought always ahead for signs of water. 
Water they must have, or that water-giving plant 
which makes life possible upon many of the seem- 
ingly arid areas of Mars ; but there was neither the 
one nor the other for these two days and now the 
third night was upon them. The girl did not com- 
plain, but Turan knew that she must be suffering 
and his heart was heavy within him. Ghek suffered 
least of all, and he explained to them that his kind 
could exist for long periods without food or water. 
Turan almost cursed him as he saw the form of 
Tara of Helium slowly wasting away before his 
eyes, while the hideous kaldane seemed as full of 
vitality as ever. 

There are circumstances,” remarked Ghek, 
‘‘ under which a gross and material body is less de- 
sirable than a highly developed brain.” 

Turan looked at him, but said nothing. Tara 
of Helium smiled faintly. ‘‘One cannot blame 
him,” she said, “were we not a bit boastful in the 
pride of our superiority ? When our stomachs were 
filled,” she added. 


ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 153 


Perhaps there is something to be said for their 
system/’ Turan admitted. “If we could but lay 
aside our stomachs when they cried for food and 
water I have no doubt but that we should do so.” 

“I should never miss mine now,” assented Tara; 
“ It is mighty poor company.” 

A new day had dawned, revealing a less desolate 
country and renewing again the hope that had been 
low within them. Suddenly Turan leaned forward, 
pointing ahead. 

“Look, Tara of Helium!” he cried. “A city? 
As I am Ga — as I am Turan the panthan, a city.” 

Far in the distance the domes and walls and 
slender towers of a city shone in the rising sun. 
Quickly the man seized the control and the ship 
dropped rapidly behind a low range of intervening 
hills, for well Turan knew that they must not be 
seen until they could discover whether friend or 
foe inhabited the strange city. Chances were th?^ 
they were far from the abode of friends and so 
must the panthan move with the utmost caution; 
but there was a city and where a city was, was 
water, even though it were a deserted city, and food 
if it were inhabited. 

To the red man food and water, even in the citadel 
of an enemy, meant food and drink for Tara of 
Helium. He would accept it from friends or he 
would take it from enemies. Just so long as it 
was there he would have it — and there was shown 


15 ^ THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 

thf egotism of the fighting man, though Turan did 
nc& iee it, nor Tara who came from a long line of 
fighting men; but Ghek might have smiled had he 
known how. 

Turan permitted the flier to drift closer behind 
the screening hills, and then when he could advance 
no farther without fear of discovery, he dropped 
the craft gently to ground in a little ravine, and 
leaping over the side made her fast to a stout tree. 
For several moments they discussed their plans — 
whether it would be best to wait where they were 
until darkness hid their movements and then ap- 
proach the city in search of food and water, or ap- 
proach it now, taking advantage of what cover they 
could, until they could glean-, something of the 
nature of its inhabitants. 

It was Turan’s plan which finally prevailed. They 
would approach as close as safety dictated in the 
“hope of finding water outside the city; food, too, 
perhaps. If they did not they could at least recon- 
noiter the ground by daylight, and then when night 
came Turan could quickly come close to the city 
and in comparative safety prosecute his search for 
food and drink. 

Following the ravine upward they finally topped 
the summit of the ridge, from which they had an 
excellent view of that part of the city which lay 
nearest them, though themselves hidden by the brush 
behind which they crouched. Ghek had resumed! 


ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 155 

his rykor, which had suffered less than either Tara 
or Turan through their enforced fast. 

The first glance at the city, now much closer than 
when they had first discovered it, revealed the fact 
that it was inhabited. Banners and pennons broke 
from many a staff. People were moving about the 
gate before them. The high white walls were paced 
by sentinels at far intervals. Upon the roofs of 
higher buildings the women could be seen airing the 
sleeping silks and furs. Turan watched it all in 
silence for some time. 

‘‘ I do not know them,” he said at last. I can- 
not guess what city this may be. But it is an ancient 
city. Its people have no fliers and no firearms. It 
must be old indeed.” 

How do you know they have not these things ? ” 
asked the girl. 

‘‘There are no landing-stages upon the roofs — 
not one that can be seen from here ; while were we 
looking similarly at Helium we would see hundreds. 
And they have no firearms because their defenses 
are all built to withstand the attack of spear and 
arrow, with spear and arrow. They are an ancient 
people.” 

“If they are ancient perhaps they are friendly,” 
suggested the girl. “ Did we not learn as children in 
the history of our planet that it was once peopled 
by a friendly, peace-loving race?” 

“ But I fear they are not as ancient as that,*' re- 


156 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


plied Turan, laughing. ‘‘It has been long ages 
since the men of Barsoom loved peace.’' 

“ My father loves peace,” returned the girl. 

“And yet he is always at war,” said the man. 

She laughed. “But he says he likes peace.” 

“We all like peace,” he rejoined; “peace with 
honor ; but our neighbors will not let us have it, and 
so we must fight.” 

“And to fight well men must like to fight,” she 
added. 

“And to like to fight they must know how to 
fight,” he said, “ for no man likes to do the thing 
that he does not know how to do well.” 

“ Or that some other man can do better than he.” 

“And so always there will be wars and men will 
fight,” he concluded, “ for always the men with hot 
blood in their veins will practice the art of war.” 

“We have settled a great question,” said the girl, 
smiling; “ but our stomachs are still empty.” 

“Your panthan is neglecting his duty,” replied 
Turan; “and how can he with the great reward 
always before his eyes ! ” 

She did not guess in what literal a sense he spoke. 

“I go forthwith,” he continued, “to wrest food 
and drink from the ancients.” 

“No,” she cried, laying a hand upon his arm, 
“not yet. They would slay you or make you pris- 
oner. You are a brave panthan and z mighty one. 
but you cannot overcome a city singlehanded.” 


^ADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS 157 


She smiled \\p into his face and her hand still 
lay upon his arm. He felt the thrill of hot blood 
coursing through his veins. He could have seized 
her in his arms and crushed her to him. There was 
only Ghek the kaldaiie there, but there was some- 
thing stronger within him that restrained his hand. 
Who may define it — that inherent chivalry that 
renders certain men the natural protectors of 
women ? 

From their vantage point they saw a body of 
armed warriors ride forth from the gate, and wind- 
ing along a well-beaten road pass from sight about 
the foot of the hill from which they watched. The 
men were red, like themselves, and they rode the 
small saddle thoats of the red race. Their trappings 
were barbaric and magnificent, and in their head- 
dress were many feathers as had been the custom 
of ancients. They were armed with swords and 
long spears and they rode almost naked, their bodies 
being painted in ochre and blue and white. There 
were, perhaps, a score of them in the party and as 
they galloped away on their tireless mounts they 
presented a picture at once savage and beautiful. 

“ They have the appearance of splendid warriors,” 
said Turan. have a great mind to walk boldly 
into their city and seek service.” 

Tara shook her head. ‘'Wait,” she admonished. 
“What would I do without you, and if you were 
captured how could you collect your reward?” 


158 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“ I should escape/' he said. ‘‘ At any rate I shall 
try it/’ and he started to rise. 

‘‘You shall not,” said the girl, her tone all au- 
thority. 

The man looked at her quickly — questioningly. 

“You have entered my service,” she said, a trifle 
haughtily. “You have entered my service for hire 
and you shall do as I bid you.” 

Turan sank down beside her again with a half 
smile upon his lips. “It is yours to command. 
Princess,” he said. 

The day passed, Ghek, tiring of the sunlight, 
had deserted his rykor and crawled down a hole 
he had discovered close by. Tara and Turan re- 
clined beneath the scant shade of a small tree. They 
watched the people coming and going through the 
gate. The party of horsemen did not return. A 
small herd of zitidars was driven into the city during 
the day, and once a caravan of broad- wheeled carts 
drawn by these huge animals wound out of the 
distant horizon and came down to the city. It, too, 
passed from their sight within the gateway. Then 
(darkness came and Tara of Helium bid her panthan 
search for food and drink; but she cautioned him 
against attempting to enter the city. Before he left 
her he bent and kissed her hand as a warrior may 
kiss the hand of his queen. 


CHAPTER X 


Entrappi:d 



URAN the panthan approached the strange 


1 city under cover of the darkness. He enter- 
tained little hope of finding either food or water 
outside the wall, but he would try and then, if he 
failed, he would attempt to make his way into the 
city, for Tara of Helium must have sustenance and 
have it soon. He saw that the walls were poorly 
sentineled, but they were sufficiently high to render 
an attempt to scale them foredoomed to failure. 
Taking advantage of underbrush and trees, Turan 
managed to reach the base of the wall without 
detection. Silently he moved north past the gate- 
way which was closed by a massive gate which 
effectively barred even the slightest glimpse within 
the city beyond. It was Turan^s hope to find upon 
the north side of the city away from the hills a level 
plain where grew the crops of the inhabitants, and 
here too water from their irrigating system, but 
though he traveled far along that seemingly inter-* 
minable wall he found no fields nor any water. He 
searched also for some means of ingress to the 
city, yet here, too, failure was his only reward, and 
now as he went keen eyes watched him from above 


i6o THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


and a silent stalker kept pace with him for a time 
upon the summit of the wall; but presently the 
shadower descended to the pavement within and 
hurrying swiftly raced ahead of the stranger with- 
out. 

He came presently to a small gate beside which 
was a low building and before the doorway of the 
building a warrior standing guard. He spoke a few 
quick words to the warrior and then entered the 
building only to return almost immediately to the 
street, followed by fully forty warriors. Cautiously 
opening the gate the fellow peered carefully along 
the wall upon the outside in the direction from which 
he had come. Evidently satisfied, he issued a few 
words of instruction to those behind him, where- 
upon half the warriors returned to the interior of 
the building, while the other half followed the man 
stealthily through the gateway where they crouched 
low among the shrubbery in a half circle just north 
of the gateway which they had left open. Here 
they waited in utter silence, nor had they long to 
wait before Turan the panthan came cautiously 
along the base of the wall. To the very gate he 
came and when he found it and that it was open 
he paused for a moment, listening; then he ap- 
proached and looked within. Assured that there 
was none within sight to apprehend him he stepped 
through the gateway into the city. 

He found himself in a narrow street that paral- 


ENTRAPPED 


i6i 

leled the wall. Upon the opposite side rose buildings 
of an architecture unknown to him, yet strangely 
beautiful. While the buildings were packed closely 
together there seemed to be no two alike and their 
fronts were of all shapes and heights and of many 
hues. The skyline was broken by spire and dome 
and minaret and tall, slender towers, while the walls 
supported many a balcony and in the soft light of 
Cluros, the farther moon, now low in the west, he 
saw, to his surprise and consternation, the figures 
of people upon the balconies. Directly opposite him 
were two women and a man. They sat leaning upon 
the rail of the balcony looking, apparently, directly 
at him ; but if they saw him they gave no sign. 

Turan hesitated a moment in the face of almost 
certain discovery and then, assured that they must 
take him for one of their own people, he moved 
boldly into the avenue. Having no idea of the direc- 
tion in which he might best hope to find what he 
sought, and not wishing to arouse suspicion by 
further hesitation, he turned to the left and stepped 
briskly along the pavement with the intention of 
placing himself as quickly as possible beyond the 
observation of those nocturnal watchers. He knew 
that the night must be far spent; and so he could 
not but wonder why people should sit upon their 
balconies when they should have been asleep among 
their silks and furs. At first he had thought them 
the late guests of some convivial host ; but the win- 


i 62 the chessmen OF MARS 


dows behind them were shrouded in darkness and 
utter quiet prevailed, quite upsetting such a theory. 
And as he proceeded he passed many another group 
sitting silently upon other balconies. They paid no 
attention to him, seeming not even to note his pass- 
ing. Some leaned with a single elbow upon the 
rail, their chins resting in their palms ; others leaned 
upon both arms across the balcony, looking down 
into the street, while several that he saw held musical 
instruments in their hands, but their fingers moved 
not upon the strings. 

And then Turan came to a point where the avenue 
turned to the right, to skirt a building that jutted 
from the inside of the city wall, and as he rounded 
the corner he came full upon two warriors stand- 
ing upon either side of the entrance to a building 
upon his right. It was impossible for them not to 
be aware of his presence, yet neither moved, nor 
gave other evidence that they had seen him. He 
stood there waiting, his hand upon the hilt of his 
long-sword, but they neither challenged nor halted 
him. Could it be that these also thought him one 
of their own kind ? Indeed upon no other grounds 
could he explain their inaction. 

As Turan had passed through the gateway into 
the city and taken his unhindered way along the 
avenue, twenty warriors had entered the city and 
closed the gate behind them, and then one had taken 
to the wall and followed along its summit in the 


ENTRAPPED 


163 

rear of Turan, and another had followed him along 
the avenue, while a third had crossed the street and 
entered one of the buildings upon the opposite side. 

The balance of them, with the exception of a 
single sentinel beside the gate, had re-entered the 
building from which they had been summoned.' 
They were well built, strapping, painted fellows, 
their naked figures covered now by gorgeous robes 
against the chill of night. As they spoke of the 
stranger they laughed at the ease with which they 
had tricked him, and were still laughing as they 
threw themselves upon their sleeping silks and furs 
to resume their broken slumber. It was evident that 
they constituted a guard detailed for the gate beside 
which they slept, and it was equally evident that 
the gates were guarded and the city watched much 
more carefully than Turan had believed. Chagrined 
indeed had been the Jed of Gathol had he dreamed 
that he was being so neatly tricked. 

As Turan proceeded along the avenue he passed 
other sentries beside other doors but now he gave 
them small heed, since they neither challenged nor 
otherwise outwardly noted his passing; but while at 
nearly every turn of the erratic avenue he passed 
one or more of these silent sentinels he could not 
guess that he had passed one of them many times 
and that his every move was watched by silent, clever 
stalkers. Scarce had he passed a certain one of 
these rigid guardsmen before the fellow awoke to 


i 64 the chessmen OF MARS 


sudden life, bounded across the avenue, entered a 
narrow opening in the outer wall where he swiftly 
followed a corridor built within the wall itself until 
presently he emerged a little distance ahead of 
Turan, where he assumed the stiff and silent atti- 
tude of a soldier upon guard. Nor did Turan 
know that a second followed in the shadows of the 
buildings behind him, nor of the third who has- 
tened ahead of him upon some urgent mission. 

And so the panthan moved through the silent 
streets of the strange city in search of food and 
drink for the woman he loved. Men and women 
looked down upon him from shadowy balconies, 
but spoke not; and sentinels saw him pass and did 
not challenge. Presently from along the avenue 
before him came the familiar sound of clanking 
accouterments, the herald of marching warriors, 
and almost simultaneously he saw upon his right an 
open doorway dimly lighted from within. It was 
the only available place where he might seek to 
hide from the approaching company, and while he 
had passed several sentries unquestioned he could 
scarce hope to escape scrutiny and questioning from 
a patrol, as he naturally assumed this body of men 
to be. 

Inside the doorway he discovered a passage turn- 
ing abruptly to the right and almost immediately 
thereafter to the left. There was none in sight 
within and so he stepped cautiously around the 


ENTRAPPED 


165; 


second turn the more effectually to be hidden from 
the street. Before him stretched a long corridor, 
dimly lighted like the entrance. Waiting there he 
heard the party approach the building, he heard 
someone at the entrance to his hiding place, and 
then he heard the door past which he had come slam 
to. He laid his hand upon his sword, expecting 
momentarily to hear footsteps approaching along 
the corridor; but none came. He approached the 
turn and looked around it; the corridor was empty 
to the closed door. Whoever had closed it had 
remained upon the outside. 

Turan waited, listening. He heard no sound. 
Then he advanced to the door and placed an ear 
against it. All was silence in the street beyond. A 
sudden draft must have closed the door, or per- 
haps it was the duty of the patrol to see to such 
things. It was immaterial. They had evidently 
passed on and now he would return to the street 
and continue upon his way. Somewhere there 
would be a public fountain where he could obtain 
water, and the chance of food lay in the strings 
of dried vegetables and meat which hung before 
the doorways of nearly every Barsoomian home of 
the poorer classes that he had ever seen. It was 
this district he was seeking, and it was for this 
reason his search had led him away from the main 
gate of the city which he knew would not be located. 
in a poor district. 


i66 THE CHESSMEN OF MANS’ 


He attempted to open the door only to find that 
it resisted his every effort — it was locked upon the 
outside. Here indeed was a sorry contretemps. 
Turan the panthan scratched his head. ‘‘Fortune 
frowns upon me,” he murmured; but beyond the 
door, Fate, in the form of a painted warrior, stood 
smiling. Neatly had he tricked the unwary 
stranger. The lighted doorway, the marching 
patrol — these had been planned and timed to a 
nicety by the third warrior who had sped ahead of 
Turan along another avenue, and the stranger had 
done precisely what the fellow had thought he 
would do — no wonder, then, that he smiled. 

This exit barred to him Turan turned back into 
the corridor. He followed it cautiously and silently. 
Occasionally there was a door on one side or the 
other. These he tried only to find each securely 
locked. The corridor wound more erratically the 
farther he advanced. A locked door barred his way 
at its end, but a door upon his right opened and he 
stepped into a dimly-lighted chamber, about the 
walls of which were three other doors, each of 
which he tried in turn. Two were locked ; the other 
opened upon a runway leading downward. It was 
spiral and he could see no farther than the first turn. 
A door in the corridor he had quitted opened after 
he had passed, and the third warrior stepped out 
and followed after him. A faint smile still lingered 
upon the fellow’s grim lips. 


ENTRAPPED 


167 


Turan drew his short-sword and cautiously de- 
scended. At the bottom was a short corridor with 
a closed door at the end. He approached the single 
heavy panel and listened. No sound came to him 
from beyond the mysterious portal. Gently he tried 
the door, which swung easily toward him at his 
touch. Before him was a low-ceiled chamber with 
a dirt floor. Set in its walls were several other 
doors and all were closed. As Turan stepped cau- 
tiously within, the third warrior descended the spiral 
runway behind him. The panthan crossed the room 
quickly and tried a door. It was locked. He heard 
a muffled click behind him and turned about with 
ready sword. He was alone ; but the door through 
which he had entered was closed — it was the click 
of its lock that he had heard. 

With a bound he crossed the room and attempted 
to open it; but to no avail. No longer did he seek 
silence, for he knew now that the thing had gone 
beyond the sphere of chance. He threw his weight 
against the wooden panel; but the thick skeel of 
which it was constructed would have withstood a 
battering ram. From beyond came a low laugh. 

Rapidly Turan examined each of the other doors. 
They were all locked. A glance about the chamber 
revealed a wooden table and a bench. Set in the 
walls were several heavy rings to which rusty chains 
were attached — all too significant of the purpose to 
which the room was dedicated. In the dirt floor 


i68 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


near the wall were two or three holes resembling 
the mouths of burrows — doubtless the habitat of 
the giant Martian rat. He had observed this much 
when suddenly the dim liglit was extinguished, leav- 
ing him in darkness utter and complete. Turan, 
groping about, sought the table and the bench. 
Placing the latter against the wall he drew the table 
in front of him and sat down upon the bench, his 
long-sword gripped in readiness before him. At 
least they should fight before they took him. 

For some time he sat there waiting for he knew 
not what. No sound penetrated to his subterranean 
dungeon. He slowly revolved in his mind the inci- 
dents of the evening — the open, unguarded gate; 
the lighted doorway — the only one he had seen thus 
open and lighted along the avenue he had followed ; 
the advance of the warriors at precisely the moment 
that he could find no other avenue of escape or con- 
cealment; the corridors and chambers that led past 
many locked doors to this underground prison leav- 
ing no other path for him to pursue. 

“By my first ancestor!” he swore; “but it was 
simple and I a simpleton. They tricked me neatly 
and have taken me without exposing themselves to 
a scratch; but for what purpose?” 

He wished that he might answer that question and 
then his thoughts turned to the girl waiting there on 
the hill beyond the city for him — and he would 
never come. He knew the ways of the more sav- 


ENTRAPPED 


169 


age peoples of Barsoom. No, he would never come, 
now. He had disobeyed her. He smiled at the 
sweet recollection of those words of command that 
had fallen from her dear lips. He had disobeyed 
her and now he had lost the reward. 

But what of her? What now would be her 
fate — starving before a hostile city with only an 
inhuman kaldane for company ? Another thought — 
a horrid thought — obtruded itself upon him. She 
had told him of the hideous sights she had witnessed 
in the burrows of the kaldanes and he knew that 
they ate human flesh. Ghek was starving. Should 
he eat his rykor he would be helpless; but — there 
was sustenance there for them both, for the rykor 
and the kaldane. Turan cursed himself for a fool. 
Why had he left her? Far better to have remained 
and died with her, ready always to protect her, than 
to have left her at the mercy of the hideous Ban- 
toomian. 

Now Turan detected a heavy odor in the air. 
It oppressed him with a feeling of drowsiness. He 
would have risen to fight off the creeping lethargy, 
but his legs seemed weak, so that he sank again to 
the bench. Presently his sword slipped from his 
fingers and he sprawled forward upon the table, his 
head resting upon his arms. 

Tara of Helium, as the night wore on and Turan 
did not return, became more and more uneasy, and 


170 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


when dawn broke with no sign of him she guessed 
that he had failed. Something more than her own 
unhappy predicament brought a feeling of sorrow 
to her heart — of sorrow and loneliness. She real- 
ized now how she had come to depend upon this 
panthan not only for protection but for companion- 
ship as well. She missed him, and in missing him 
realized suddenly that he had meant more to her 
than a mere hired warrior. It was as though a 
friend had been taken from her — an old and valued 
friend. She rose from her place of concealment that 
she might have a better view of the city. 

U-Dor, dwar of the 8th Utan of 0-Tar, Jeddak 
of Manator, rode back in the early dawn toward 
Manator from a brief excursion to a neighboring 
village. As he was rounding the hills south of the 
city, his keen eyes were attracted by a slight move- 
ment among the shrubbery close to the summit of 
the nearest hill. He halted his vicious mount and 
watched more closely. He saw a figure rise facing 
away from him and peer down toward Manator 
beyond the hill. 

Come ! ” he signalled to his followers, and with 
a word to his thoat turned the beast at a rapid 
gallop up the hillside. In his wake swept his twenty 
savage warriors, the padded feet of their mounts 
soundless upon the soft turf. It was the rattle of 
sidearms and harness that brought Tara of Helium 
suddenly about, facing them. She saw a score of 


ENTRAPPED 


ITT 

warriors with couched lances bearing down upon 
her. 

She glanced at Ghek. What would the spider- 
man do in this emergency? She saw him crawl to^ 
his rykor and attach himself. Then he arose, the 
beautiful body once again animated and alert. She 
thought that the creature was preparing for flight. 
Well, it made little difference to her. Against such 
as were streaming up the hill toward them a single 
mediocre swordsman such as Ghek was worse than 
no defense at all. 

‘‘Hurry, Ghek!” she admonished him. “Back 
into the hills! You may find there a hiding-place;” 
but the creature only stepped between her and the 
oncoming riders, drawing his long-sword. 

“ It is useless, Ghek,” she said, when she saw that 
he intended to defend her. “What can a single 
sword accomplish against such odds ? ” 

“I can die but once,” replied the kaldane. “You 
and your panthan saved me from Luud and I but do 
what your panthan would do were he here to pro- 
tect you.” 

“It is brave, but it is useless,” she replied. 
“Sheathe your sword. They may not intend us 
harm.” 

Ghek let the point of his weapon drop to the 
ground, but he did not sheathe it, and thus the two 
stood waiting as U-Dor the dwar stopped his thoat 
before them while his twenty warriors formed a 


172 the chessmen of mars 

rough circle about. For a long minute U-Dor sat 
his mount in silence, looking searchingly first at Tara 
of Helium and then at her hideous companion. 

'‘What manner of creature are you?'’ he asked 
presently. "And what do you before the gates of 
Manator?" 

"We are from far countries" replied the girl, 
and we are lost and starving. We ask only food 
and rest and the privilege to go our way seeking 
our own homes." 

U-Dor smiled a grim smile. "Manator and the 
hills which guard it alone know the age of Mana- 
tor," he said; "yet in all the ages that have rolled 
by since Manator first was, there be no record in 
the annals of Manator of a stranger departing from 
Manator." 

"But I am a princess," cried the girl haughtily, 
*'and my country is not at war with yours. You 
must give me and my companions aid and assist us 
to return to our own land. It is the law of Bar- 
soom." 

"Manator knows only the laws of Manator," 
replied U-Dor; "but come. You shall go with us 
to the city, where you, being beautiful, need have 
no fear. I, myself, will protect you if O-Tar so 
decrees. And as for your companion — but hold! 
You said ^companions’— there are others of your 
party then ? " 

"You see what you see,” replied Tara haughtily# 


ENTRAPPED 


^73 


“ Be that as it may,” said U-Dor. “If there be 
more they shall not escape Manator; but as I was 
saying, if your companion fights well he too may 
live, for O-Tar is just, and just are the laws of 
Manator. Come ! ” 

Ghek demurred. 

“It is useless,” said the girl, seeing that he would 
have stood his ground and fought them. “Let us 
go with them. Why pit your puny blade against 
their mighty ones when there should lie in your 
great brain the means to outwit them ? ” She spoke 
in a low whisper, rapidly. 

“You are right, Tara of Helium,” he replied and 
sheathed his sword. 

And so they moved down the hillside toward the 
gates of Manator — Tara, Princess of Helium, and 
Ghek, the kaldane of Bantoom — and surrounding 
them rode the savage, painted warriors of U-Dor, 
dwar of the 8th UUn of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE CHOICE OE TARA 


HE dazzling sunlight of Barsoom clothed 



1 Manator in an aureole of splendor as the girl 
and her captors rode into the city through The Gate 
of Enemies. Here the wall was some fifty feet 
thick, and the sides of the passageway within the 
gate were covered with parallel shelves of masonry 
from bottom to top. Within these shelves, or long, 
horizontal niches, stood row upon row of small 
figures, appearing like tiny, grotesque statuettes of 
men, their long, black hair falling below their feet 
and sometimes trailing to the shelf beneath. The 
figures were scarce a foot in height and but for 
their diminutive proportions might have been the 
mummified bodies of once living men. The girl 
noticed that as they passed, the warriors saluted the 
figures with their spears after the manner of Bar- 
soomian fighting men in extending a military cour- 
tesy, and then they rode on into the avenue beyond, 
which ran, wide and stately, through the city toward 
the east. 

On either side were great buildings wondrously 
wrought. Paintings of great beauty and an- 
tiquity covered many of the walls, their colors 


THE CHOICE OF TARA 


175 


softened and blended by the suns of ages. Upon the 
pavement the life of the newly-awakened city was 
already afoot. Women in brilliant trappings, be- 
feathered warriors, their bodies daubed with paint; 
artisans, armed but less gaily caparisoned, took their 
various ways upon the duties of the day. A giant 
zitidar, magnificent in rich harness, rumbled its 
broad-wheeled cart along the stone pavement toward 
The Gate of Enemies. Life and color and beauty 
wrought together a picture that filled the eyes of 
Tara of Helium with wonder and with admiration, 
for here was a scene out of the dead past of dying 
Mars. Such had been the cities of the founders of 
her race before Throxeus, mightiest of oceans, had 
disappeared from the face of a world. And from 
balconies on either side men and women looked 
down in silence upon the scene below. 

The people in the street looked at the two pris- 
oners, especially at the hideous Ghek, and called out 
in question or comment to their guard; but the 
watchers upon the balconies spoke not, nor did one 
so much as turn a head to note their passing. There 
were many balconies on each building and not a one 
that did not hold its silent party of richly trapped 
men and women, with here and there a child or two ; 
but even the children maintained the uniform silence 
and immobility of their elders. As they approached 
the center of the city the girl saw that even the 
roofs bore companies of these idle watchers, 


176 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


harnessed and be jeweled as for some gala-day of 
laughter and music; but no laughter broke from 
those silent lips, nor any music from the strings of 
the instruments that many of them held in jeweled 
fingers. 

And now the avenue widened into an immense 
square, at the far end of which rose a stately edifice 
gleaming white in virgin marble among the gaily 
painted buildings surrounding it and its scarier 
sward and gaily-flowering, green-foliaged shrub- 
bery. Toward this U-Dor led his prisoners and 
their guard to the great arched entrance before 
which a line of fifty mounted warriors barred the 
way. When the commander of the guard recog- 
nized U-Dor the guardsmen fell back to either side 
leaving a broad avenue through which the party 
passed. Directly inside the entrance were inclined 
runways leading upward on either side. U-Dor 
turned to the left and led them upward to the second 
floor and down a long corridor. Here they passed 
other mounted men and in chambers upon either side 
they saw more. Occasionally there was another 
runway leading either up or^ down. A warrior, his 
steed at full gallop, dashed into sight from one of 
these and raced swiftly past them upon some errand. 

Nowhere as yet had Tara of Helium seen a man 
afoot in this great building; but when at a turn, 
U-Dor led them to the third floor she caught 
glimpses of chambers in which many riderless thoats 


THE CHOICE OF TARA 


177 


were penned and others adjoining where dismounted 
warriors lolled at ease or played games of skill or 
chance and many there were who played at jetan, 
and then the party passed into a long, wide hall 
of state, as magnificent an apartment as even a 
princess of mighty Helium ever had seen. The 
length of the room ran an arched ceiling ablaze with 
countless radium bulbs. The mighty spans extended 
from wall to wall leaving the vast floor unbroken 
by a single column. The arches were of white 
marble, apparently quarried in single, huge blocks 
from which each arch was cut complete. Between 
the arches, the ceiling was set solid about the radium 
bulbs with precious stones whose scintillant fire and 
color and beauty filled the whole apartment. The 
stones were carried down the walls in an irregular 
fringe for a few feet, where they appeared to hang 
like a beautiful and gorgeous drapery against the 
white marble of the wall. The marble ended some 
six or seven feet from the floor, the walls from that 
point down being wainscoted in solid gold. The 
floor itself was of marble richly inlaid with gold. 
In that single room was a vast treasure equal to the 
wealth of many a large city. 

But what riveted the girl’s attention even more 
than the fabulous treasure of decorations were the 
files of gorgeously harnessed warriors who sat their 
thoats in grim silence and immobility on either side 
of the central aisle, rank after rank of them to the 


178 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


farther walls, and as the party passed between them 
she could not note so much as the flicker of an eye- 
lid, or the twitching of a thoat’s ear. 

‘‘The Hall of Chiefs,’’ whispered one of her 
guard, evidently noting her interest. There was ^ 
note of pride in the fellow’s voice and something 
of hushed awe. Then they passed through a great 
doorway into the chamber beyond, a large, square 
room in which a dozen mounted warriors lolled in 
their saddles. 

As U-Dor and his party entered the room, the 
warriors came quickly erect in their saddles and 
formed a line before another door upon the op- 
posite side of the wall. The padwar commanding 
them saluted U-Dor who, with his party, had halted 
facing the guard. 

“Send one to O-Tar announcing that U-Dor 
brings two prisoners worthy of the observation of 
the great jeddak,” said U-Dor; “one because of her 
extreme beauty, the other because of his extreme 
ugliness.” 

“O-Tar sits in council with the lesser chiefs,’^ 
replied the lieutenant; “but the words of U-Dor the 
dwar shall be carried to him,” and he turned and 
gave instructions to one who sat his thoat behind 
him. 

“ What manner of creature is the male ? ” he asked 
of U-Dor. “It cannot be that both are of one 
race.” 


THE CHOICE OF TARA 


179 


“They were together in the hills south of the 
city,” explained U-Dor, “and they say that they 
are lost and starving.” 

“The woman is beautiful,” said the padwar. 
“ She will not long go begging in the city of Mana- 
tor,” and then they spoke of other matters — of the 
doings of the palace, of the expedition of U-Dor, 
until the messenger returned to say that O-Tar bade 
them bring the prisoners to him. 

They passed then through a massive doorway, 
which, when opened, revealed the great council 
chamber of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, beyond. A 
central aisle led from the doorway the full length 
of the great hall, terminating at the steps of a 
marble dais upon which a man sat in a great throne- 
chair. Upon either side of the aisle were ranged 
rows of highly carved desks and chairs of skeel, a 
hard wood of great beauty. Only a few of the 
desks were occupied— those in the front row, just 
below the rostrum. 

At the entrance U-Dor dismounted with four of 
his followers who formed a guard about the two 
prisoners who were then conducted toward the foot 
of the throne, following a few paces behind U-Dor. 
As they halted at the foot of the marble steps, tke 
proud gaze of Tara of Helium rested upon the 
enthroned figure of the man above her. He sat erect 
without stiffness — a commanding presence trapped 
in the barbaric splendor that the Barsoomian chief- 


iBo THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


tain loves. He was a large man, the perfection of 
whose handsome face was marred only by the 
hauteur of his cold eyes and the suggestion of 
cruelty imparted by too thin lips. It needed no sec- 
ond glance to assure the least observing that here 
indeed was a ruler of men — a fighting jeddak 
whose people might worship but not love, and for 
whose slightest favor warriors would vie with one 
another to go forth and die. This was O-Tar, 
Jeddak of Manator, and as Tara of Helium saw him 
for the first time she could not but acknowledge a 
certain admiration for this savage chieftain who so 
virily personified the ancient virtues of the God of 
War. 

U-Dor and the jeddak interchanged the simple 
greetings of Barsoom, and then the former recounted 
the details of the discovery and capture of the 
prisoners. O-Tar scrutinized them both intently 
during U-Dor’s narration of events, his expression 
revealing naught of what passed in the brain behind 
those inscrutable eyes. When the officer had fin- 
ished the jeddak fastened his gaze upon Ghek. 

‘^And you,” he asked, “what manner of thing 
are you? From what country? Why are you in 
Manator ? ” 

“I am a kaldane,” replied Ghek; “the highest 
type of created creature upon the face of Barsoom; 
I am mind, you are matter. I come from Bantoom. 
I am here because we were lost and starving.” 


THE CHOICE OF TARA 


i8t 


^‘And you!’’ O-Tar turned suddenly on Tara. 
‘'You, too, are a kaldane?” 

"I am a princess of Helium,” replied the girl. 
“I was a prisoner in Bantoom. This kaldane and 
a warrior of my own race rescued me. The warrior 
left us to search for food and water. He has doubt- 
less fallen into the hands of your people. I ask you 
to free him and give us food and drink and let us 
go upon our way. I am a granddaughter of a 
jeddak, the daughter of a jeddak of jeddaks. The 
Warlord of Barsoom. I ask only the treatment that 
my people would accord you or yours.” 

“Helium,” repeated O-Tar. “I know naught of 
Helium, nor does the Jeddak of Helium rule Mana- 
tor. I, O-Tar, am Jeddak of Manator. I alone 
rule. I protect my own. You have never seen a 
woman or a warrior of Manator captive in Helium ! 
Why should I protect the people of another jeddak? 
It is his duty to protect them. If he cannot, he is 
weak, and his people must fall into the hands of 
the strong. I, O-Tar, am strong. I will keep you. 
That — ” he pointed at Ghek — “ can it fight ? ” 

“It is brave,” replied Tara of Helium, “but it 
has not the skill at arms which my people possess.” 

“ There is none then to fight for you ? ” asked 
O-Tar. “ We are a just people,” he continued with- 
out waiting for a reply, “and had you one to fight 
for you he might win to freedom for himself and 
you as well.” 


1 82 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“But U-*Dor assured me that no stranger ever 
had departed from Manator/' she answered. 

0-Tar shrugged. “That does not disprove the 
justice of the laws of Manator/^ replied 0-Tar, 
“but rather that the warriors of Manator are in- 
vincible. Had there come one who could defeat our 
warriors that one had won to liberty.^’ 

“And you fetch my warrior,’’ cried Tara haugh- 
tily, “ you shall see such swordplay as doubtless the 
crumbling walls of your decaying city never have 
witnessed, and if there be no trick in your offer 
we are already as good as free.” 

0-Tar smiled more broadly than before and 
U-Dor smiled, too, and the chiefs and warriors who 
looked on nudged one another and whispered, 
laughing. And Tara of Helium knew then that 
there was trickery in their justice; but though her 
situation seemed hopeless she did not cease to hope, 
for was she not the daughter of John Carter, War- 
lord of Barsoom, whose famous challenge to Fate, 
“I still live!” remained the one irreducible defense 
against despair? At thought of her noble sire the 
patrician chin of Tara of Helium rose a shade 
higher. Ah! if he but knew where she was there 
were little to fear then. The hosts of T im would 
batter at the gates of Manator, the greaf green war- 
riors of John Carter’s savage allies would swarm 
up from the dead sea bottoms lusting for pillage and 
for loot, the stately ships of her beloved navy would 


THE CHOICE OF TAR^ 


i8g 

soar above the unprotected towers and minarets of 
the doomed city which only capitulation and heavy 
tribute could then save. 

But John Carter did not know ! There was only 
one other to whom she might hope to look — Turan 
the panthan ; but where was he ? She had seen his 
sword in play and she knew that it had been wielded 
by a master hand, and who should know swordplay 
better than Tara of Helium, who had learned it well 
under the constant tutorage of John Carter him- 
self. Tricks she knew that discounted even far 
greater physical prowess than her own, and a method 
of attack that might have been at once the envy and 
despair of the cleverest of warriors. And so it was 
that her thoughts turned to Turan the panthan, 
though not alone because of the protection he might 
afford her. She had realized, since he had left her 
in search of food, that there had grown between 
them a certain comradeship that she now missed. 
There had been that about him which seemed to 
have bridged the gulf between their stations in life. 
With him she had failed to consider that he was a 
panthan or that she was a princess — they had been 
comrades.y.t^^^ddenly she realized that she missed 
him for niffeiself more than for his sword. She 
turned toward 0-Tar. 

Where is Turan, my warrior?” she demanded. 

‘^You shall not lack for warriors,” replied the 
jeddak. One of your beauty will find plenty ready 


1 84 the chessmen OF MARS 


to fight for her. Possibly it shall not be necessary 
to look farther than the jeddak of Manator. You 
please me, woman. What say you to such an 
honor ? ’’ 

Through narrowed lids the Princess of Helium 
scrutinized the Jeddak of Manator, from feathered 
headdress to sandaled foot and back to feathered 
headdress. 

** ‘ Honor’ ! ” she mimicked in tones of scorn. I 
please thee, do I? Then know, swine, that thou 
pleaseth me not — that the daughter of John Carter 
is not for such as thou ! ” 

A sudden, tense silence fell upon the assembled 
chiefs. Slowly the blood receded from the sinister 
face of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, leaving him a 
sickly purple in his wrath. His eyes narrowed to 
two thin slits, his lips were compressed to a blood- 
less line of malevolence. For a long moment there 
was no sound in the throne room of the palace at 
Manator. Then the jeddak turned toward U-Dor. 

‘‘Take her away,” he said in a level voice that 
belied his appearance of rage. “Take her away, 
and at the next games let the prisoners and the 
common warriors play at jetan for her.” 

“And this?” asked U-Dor, pointing at Ghek. 

“To the pits until the next games,” replied O-Tar. 

“So this is your vaunted justice!” cried Tara of 
Helium ; “ that two strangers who have not wronged 
you shall be sentenced without trial? And one of 


THE CHOICE OF TARA 


185 


them is a woman. The swine of Manator are as 
just as they are brave.” 

‘‘Away with her!” shouted O-Tar, and at a sign 
from U-Dor the guards formed about the two 
prisoners and conducted them from the chamber. 

Outside the palace, Ghek and Tara of Helium 
were separated. The girl was led through long ave- 
nues toward the center of the city and finally into 
a low building, topped by lofty towers of massive 
construction. Here she was turned over to a war- 
rior who wore the insignia of a dwar, or captain. 

“It is 0-Tar’s wish,” explained U-Dor to this 
one, “that she be kept until the next games, when 
the prisoners and the common warriors shall play 
for her. Had she not the tongue of a thoat she 
had been a worthy stake for our noblest steel,” and 
U-Dor sighed. “Perhaps even yet I may win a 
pardon for her. It were too bad to see such beauty 
fall to the lot of some common fellow. I would 
have honored her myself.” 

“If I am to be imprisoned, imprison me,” said 
the girl. “I do not recall that I was sentenced to 
listen to the insults of every low-born boor who 
chanced to admire me.” 

“ You see, A-Kor,” cried U-Dor, “the tongue that 
she has. Even so and worse spoke she to O-Tar 
the jeddak.” 

“I see,” replied A-Kor, whom Tara saw was 
with difficulty restraining a smile. “Come, then, 


i86 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


with me, woman,’’ he said ‘‘ and we shall find a safe 
place within The Towers of Jetan — but stay! what 
ails thee ? ” 

The girl had staggered and would have fallen had 
not the man caught her in his arms. She seemed to 
gather herself then and bravely sought to stand erect 
without support. A-Kor glanced at U-Dor. Knew 
you the woman was ill ? ” he asked. 

“Possibly it is lack of food,” replied the other. 
“ She mentioned, I believe, that she and her com- 
panions had not eaten for several days.” 

“Brave ^re the warriors of Q-Tar,” sneered 
A-Kor; “lavish their hospitality. U-Dor, whose 
riches are uncounted, and the brave O-Tar, whose 
squealing thoats are stabled within marble halls 
and fed from troughs of gold, can spare no crust 
to feed a starving girl.” 

The black haired U-Dor scowled. “ Thy tongue 
will yet pierce thy heart, son of a slave! ” he cried. 
“ Once too often mayst thou try the patience of the 
just O-Tar. Hereafter guard thy speech as well as 
thy towers.” 

“ Think not to taunt me with my mother’s state,” 
said A-Kor. ‘‘^’Tis the blood of the slave woman 
that fills my veins with pride, and my only shame 
is that I am also the son of thy jeddak.” 

“And O-Tar heard this?” queried U-Dor. 

“O-Tar has already heard it from my own lips,” 
replied A-Kor; “this, and more.” 


THE CHOICE OF TARA 


187 


He turned upon his heel, a supporting arm still 
around the waist of Tara of Helium and thus he 
half led, half carried her into The Towers of 
Jetan, while U-Dor wheeled his thoat and galloped 
back in the direction of the palace. 

Within the main entrance to The Towers of Jetan 
lolled a half-dozen warriors. To one of these spoke 
A-Kor, keeper of the towers. “Fetch Lan-O, the 
slave girl, and bid her bring food and drink to the 
upper level of the Thurian tower,’' then he lifted 
the half-fainting girl in his arms and bore her along 
the spiral, inclined runway that led upward within 
the tower. 

Somewhere in the long ascent Tara lost con- 
sciousness. When it returned she found herself 
in a large, circular chamber, the stone walls of 
which were pierced by windows at regular inter- 
vals about the entire circumference of the room. 
She was lying upon a pile of sleeping silks and 
furs while there knelt above her a young woman 
who was forcing drops of some cooling beverage 
between her parched lips. Tara of Helium half 
rose upon an elbow and looked about. In the first 
moments of returning consciousness there were 
Wept from the screen of recollection the happen- 
ings of many weeks. She thought that she awoke 
in the palace of The Warlord at Helium. Her 
brows knit as she scrutinized the strange face bend- 
ing over her. 


i88 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


‘‘Who are you?” she asked, and, “Where is 
Uthia?” 

“I am Lan-O the slave girl,” replied the other. 
‘‘I know none by the name of Uthia.” 

Tara of Helium sat erect and looked about her. 
This rough stone was not the marble of her father’s 
halls. “Where am I?” she asked. 

“In The Thurian Tower,” replied the girl, and 
then seeing that the other still did not understand 
she guessed the truth. “You are a prisoner in 
The Towers of Jetan in the city of Manator,” she 
explained. “You were brought to this chamber, 
weak and fainting, by A-Kor, Dwar of The Towers 
of Jetan, who sent me to you with food and drink, 
for kind is the heart of A-Kor.” 

“I remember, now,” said Tara, slowly. “I re- 
member; but where is Turan, my warrior? Did 
they speak of him?” 

“I heard naught of another,” replied Lan-O; 
“you alone were brought to the towers. In that 
you are fortunate, for there be no nobler man in 
Mailator than A-Kor. It is his mother’s blood that 
makes him so. She was a slave girl from Gathol.” 

“Gathol!” exclaimed Tara of Helium. “Lies 
Gathol close by Manator?” 

“ Not close, yet still the nearest country,” replied 
Lan-O. “About twenty-two degrees^ east, it lies.” 

“Gathol!” murmured Tara, “Far Gathol!” 


lApproximately 814 Earth Miles. 


THE CHOICE OF T7IR~A 


189 


“But you are not from Gathol,” said the slave 
girl; “your harness is not of Gathol.” 

“I am from Helium,” said Tara. 

“It is far from Helium to Gathol,” said the 
slave girl, “but in our studies we learned much 
of the greatness of Helium, we of Gathol, so it 
seems not so far away.” 

“You, too, are from Gathol?” asked Tara, 

“Many of us are from Gathol who are slaves 
in Manator,” replied the girl. “It is to Gathol, 
nearest country, that the Manatorians look for 
slaves most often. They go in great numbers at 
intervals of three or seven years and haunt the 
roads that lead to Gathol, and thus they capture 
whole caravans leaving none to bear warning to 
Gathol of their fate. Nor do any ever escape 
from Manator to carry word of us back to Gahan 
our jed.” 

Tara of Helium ate slowly and in silence. The 
girl's words aroused memories of the last hours 
she had spent in her father’s palace and the great 
midday function at which she had met Gahan of 
Gathol. Even now she flushed as she recalled his 
daring words. 

Upon her reveries the door opened and a burly 
warrior appeared in the opening — a hulking fel- 
low, with thick lips and an evil, leering face. The 
slave girl sprang to her feet, facing him. 

“What does this mean, E-Med?” she cried; 


igo 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


'‘was it not the will of A-Kor that this woman 
be not disturbed?” 

“The will of A-Kor, indeed!” and the man 
sneered. “The will of A-Kor is without power 
in The Towers of Jetan, or elsewhere, for A-Kor 
lies now in the pits of 0-Tar, and E-Med is dwar 
of the Towers.” 

Tara of Helium saw the face of the slave girl 
pale and the terror in her eyes. 


CHAPTER XII 


GHEK PLAYS PRANKS 

W HILE Tara of Helium was being led 

The Towers of Jetan, Ghek was escorted 
to the pits beneath the palaee where he was im- 
prisoned in a dimly-lighted chamber. Here he 
found a bench and a table standing upon the dirt 
floor near the wall, and set in the wall several 
rings from which depended short lengths of chain. 
At the base of the walls were several holes in the 
dirt floor. These, alone, of the several things he 
saw, interested him. Ghek sat down upon the bench 
and waited in silence, listening. Presently the lights 
were extinguished. If Ghek could have smiled he 
would have then, for Ghek could see as well in 
the dark as in the light — better, perhaps. He 
watched the dark openings of the holes in the floor 
and waited. Presently he detected a change in the 
air about him — it grew heavy with a strange odor, 
and once again might Ghek have smiled, could he 
have smiled. 

Let them replace all the air in the chamber with 
their most deadly fumes; it would be all the same 
to Ghek, the kaldane, who, having no lungs, re- 
quired no air. With the rykor it might be dif- 


192 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


ferent. Deprived of air it would die; but if only 
a sufficient amount of the gas was introduced to 
stupefy an ordinary creature it would have no 
effect upon the rykor, who had no objective mind 
to overcome. So long as the excess of carbon 
dioxide m the blood was not sufficient to prevent 
heart action, the rykor would suffer only a diminu- 
tion of vitality; but would still respond to the ex- 
citing agency of the kaldane's brain. 

Ghek caused the rykor to assume a sitting posi- 
tion with its back against the wall where it might 
remain without direction from his brain. Then 
he released his contact with its spinal cord; but 
remained in position upon its shoulders, waiting 
and watching, for the kaldane’s curiosity was 
aroused. He had not long to wait before the lights 
were flashed on and one of the locked doors opened 
to admit a half-dozen warriors. They approached 
him rapidly and worked quickly. First they re- 
moved all his weapons and then, snapping a fetter 
about one of the rykor ’s ankles, secured him to 
the end of one of the chains hanging from the 
walls. Next they dragged the long table to a new 
position and there bolted it to the floor so that an 
end, instead of the middle, was directly before the 
prisoner. On the table before him they set food 
and water and upon the opposite end of the table 
they laid the key to the fetter. Then they unlocked 
and opened all the doors and departed. 


GHEK PLAYS PRANKS 


19^ 


When Turan the panthan regained consciousness 
it was to the realization of a sharp pain in one of 
his forearms. The effects of the gas departed as 
rapidly as they had overcome him so that as he 
opened his eyes he was in full possession of all his 
faculties. The lights were on again and in their 
glow there was revealed to the man the figure of 
a giant Martian rat crouching upon the table and 
gnawing upon his arm. Snatching his arm away 
he reached for his short-sword, while the rat,, 
growling, sought to seize his arm again. It was 
then that Turan discovered that his weapons had 
been removed — short-sword, long-sword, dagger, 
and pistol. The rat charged him then and striking 
the creature away with his hand the man rose and 
backed off, searching for something with which to 
strike a harder blow. Again the rat charged and 
as Turan stepped quickly back to avoid the menacing 
jaws, something seemed to jerk suddenly upon his 
right ankle, and as he drew his left foot back to 
regain his equilibrium his heel caught upon a taut 
chain and he fell heavily backward to the floor just 
as the rat leaped upon his breast and sought his 
throat. 

The Martian rat is a fierce and unlovely thing. 
It is many-legged and hairless, its hide resembling 
that of a new-born mouse in repulsiveness. In size 
and weight it is comparable to a large Airedale 
terrier. Its eyes are small and close-set, and almost 


194 the chessmen OF MARS 


hidden in deep, fleshy apertures. But its most 
ferocious and repulsive feature is its jaws, the entire 
bony structure of which protrudes several inches 
beyond the flesh, revealing five sharp, spadelike 
teeth in the upper jaw and the same number of 
similar teeth in the lower, the whole suggesting 
the appearance of a rotting face from which much 
of the flesh has sloughed away. 

It was such a thing that leaped upon the breast 
of the panthan to tear at his jugular. Twice Turan 
struck it away as he sought to regain his feet, but 
both times it returned with increased ferocity to 
renew the attack. Its only weapons are its jaws 
since its broad, splay feet are armed with blunt 
talons. With its protruding jaws it excavates its 
winding burrows and with its broad feet it pushes 
the dirt behind it. To keep the jaws from his flesh 
then was Turan's only concern and this he suc- 
ceeded in doing until chance gave him a hold upon 
the creature’s throat. After that the end was but 
a matter of moments. Rising at last he flung the 
lifeless thing from him with a shudder of disgust. 

Now he turned his attention to a hurried in- 
ventory of the new conditions which surrounded 
him since the moment of his incarceration. He 
realized vaguely what had happened. He had been 
anaesthetized and stripped of his weapons, and as 
he rose to his feet he saw that one ankle was fet- 
tered to a chain in the wall. He looked about the 


GHEK PLAYS PRANKS 


195 


room. All the doors swung wide open! His 
captors would render his imprisonment the more 
cruel by leaving ever before him tempting glimpses 
of open aisles to the freedom he could not attain. 
Upon the end of the table and within easy reach 
was food and drink. This at least was attainable 
and at sight of it his starved stomach seemed almost 
to cry aloud for sustenance. It was with difficulty 
that he ate and drank in moderation. 

As he devoured the food his eyes wandered about 
the confines of his prison until suddenly they seized 
upon a thing that lay on the table at the end farthest 
from him. It was a key. He raised his fettered 
ankle and examined the lock. There could be no 
doubt of it! The key that lay there on the table 
before him was the key to that very lock. A care- 
less warrior had laid it there and departed, for- 
getting. Hope surged high in the breast of Gahan 
of Gathol, of Turan the panthan. Furtively his 
eyes sought the open doorways. There was no one 
in sight. Ah, if he could but gain his freedom? 
He would find some way from this odious city back 
to her side and never again would he leave her until 
he had won safety for her or death for himself. 

He rose and moved cautiously toward the oppo- 
site end of the table where lay the coveted key. The 
fettered ankle halted his first step, but he stretched 
at full length along the table, extending eager fingers 
toward the prize. They almost laid hold upon it — 


196 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


a little more and they would touch it. He strained 
and stretched, but still the thing lay just beyond 
his reach. He hurled himself forward until th« 
iron fetter bit deep into his flesh, but all futilely. 
He sat back upon the bench then and glared at 
the open doors and the key, realizing now that they 
were part of a well-laid scheme of refined torture, 
none the less demoralizing because it inflicted no 
physical suffering. 

For just a moment the man gave way to useless 
regret and foreboding, then he gathered himself 
together, his brows cleared, and he returned to his 
unfinished meal. At least they should not have 
the satisfaction of knowing how sorely they had 
hit him. As he ate it occurred to him that by 
dragging the table along the floor he could bring 
the key within his reach, but when he essayed to 
do so, he found that the table had been securely 
bolted to the floor during the period of his uncon- 
sciousness. Again Gahan smiled and shrugged and 
resumed his eating. 

s 

When the warriors had departed from the prison 
in which Ghek was confined, the kaldane crawled 
from the shoulders of the rykor to the table. Here 
he drank a little water and then directed the hands 
of the rykor to the balance of it and to the food, 
upon which the brainless thing fell with avidity. 
While it was thus engaged Ghek took his spider- 


A giant Martian rat was gnawing upon his arm 1 











‘s r . . “ ‘ ^ ‘ 





I 

^^r,| 


•• •' \ • ■/ 1?.' -• •. 





-3' T 

M.y, 


'Htet*' 

I 



5 


7 ' 

i;.JS'it.: rV««^ -*5 


/k. Vv ^ 



eu >.i- -tr -.v! ._ ^ 


r.^ 


, . * ,i» .*.' 


>i»»* ) 




/^.yr ,- 

•:■'•* Ac, 




fc. ■■ A; - 

. ■* . "t.,, 





-’"-■ A,,;.:' '> 


; •♦ 


KJ*,^ ’ " • 




jfS. 'i 


‘i»* 

'Ir * • 


iL 



GHEK PLAYS PRANKS 


197 


like way along the table to the opposite end where 
lay the key to the fetter. Seizing it in a chela he 
leaped to the floor and scurried rapidly toward the 
mouth of one of the burrows against the wall, into 
which he disappeared. For long had the brain been 
contemplating these burrow entrances. They ap- 
pealed to his kaldanean tastes, and further, they 
pointed a hiding place for the key and a lair for 
the only kind of food that the kaldane relished — 
flesh and blood. 

Ghek had never seen an ulsio, since these great 
Martian rats had long ago disappeared from Ban- 
toom, their flesh and blood having been greatly 
relished by the kaldanes; but Ghek had inherited, 
almost unimpaired, every memory of every ances- 
tor, and so he knew that ulsio inhabited these lairs 
and that ulsio was good to eat, and he knew what 
ulsio looked like and what his habits were, though 
he had never seen him nor any picture of him. As 
we breed animals for the transmission of physical 
attributes, so the kaldanes breed themselves for the 
transmission of attributes of the mind, including 
memory and the power of recollection, and thus 
have they raised what we term instinct, above the 
level of the threshold of the objective mind where 
it may be commanded and utilized by recollection. 
Doubtless in our own subjective minds lie many of 
the impressions and experiences of our forebears. 
These may impinge upon our consciousness in 


198 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


dreams only, or in vague, haunting suggestions that 
we have before experienced some transient phase o^ 
our present existence. Ah, if we had but the power 
to recall them! Before us would unfold the for- 
gotten story of the lost eons that have preceded us. 
We might even walk with God in the garden of 
His stars while man was still but a budding idea 
within His mind. 

Ghek descended into the burrow at a steep incline 
for some ten feet, when he found himself in an 
elaborate and delightful network of burrows. The 
kaldane was elated. This indeed was life! He 
moved rapidly and fearlessly and he went as straight 
to his goal as you could to the kitchen of your own 
home. This goal lay at a low level in a spheroidal 
cavity about the size of a large barrel. Here, in 
a nest of torn bits of silk and fur lay six baby 
ulsios. 

When the mother returned there were but five 
babies and a great spider-like creature, which she 
immediately sprang to attack only to be met by 
powerful chelae which seized and held her so that 
she could not move. Slowly they dragged her 
throat toward a hideous mouth and in a little 
moment she was dead. 

Ghek might have remained in the nest for a long 
time, since there was ample food for many days; 
but he did not do so. Instead he explored the bur- 
rows. He followed them into many subterranean 


GHEK PLAYS PRANKS 


T99 


chambers of the city of Manator, and upward 
through walls to rooms above the ground. He 
found many ingeniously devised traps, and he found 
poisoned food and other signs of the constant battle 
that the inhabitants of Manator waged against these 
repulsive creatures that dwelt beneath their homes 
and public buildings. 

His exploration revealed not only the vast pro- 
portions of the net-work of runways that appar- 
ently traversed every portion of the city, but the 
great antiquity of the majority of them. Tons upon 
tons of dirt must have been removed, and for a 
long time he wondered where it had been deposited, 
until in following downward a tunnel of great size 
and length he sensed before him the thunderous 
rush of subterranean waters, and presently came to 
the bank of a great, underground river, tumbling 
onward, no doubt, the length of a world to the 
buried sea of Omean. Into this torrential sewer 
had unthinkable generations of ulsios pushed their 
few handsful of dirt in the excavating of their vast 
labyrinth. 

For only a moment did Ghek tarry by the 
river, for his seemingly aimless wanderings were 
in reality prompted by a definite purpose, and this 
he pursued with vigor and singleness of design. 
He followed such runways as appeared to terminate 
in the pits or other chambers of the inhabitants of 
the city, and these he explored, usually from the 


200 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


safety of a burrow’s mouth, until satisfied that 
what he sought was not there. He moved swiftly 
upon his spider legs and covered remarkable dis- 
tances in short periods of time. 

His search not being rewarded with immediate 
success, he decided to return to the pit where his 
rykor lay chained and look to its wants. As he 
approached the end of the burrow that terminated 
in the pit he slackened his pace, stopping just within 
the entrance of the runway that he might scan the 
interior of the chamber before entering it. As he 
did so he saw the figure of a warrior appear sud- 
denly in an opposite doorway. The rykor sprawled 
upon the table, his hands groping blindly for more 
food. Ghek saw the warrior pause and gaze in 
sudden astonishment at the rykor; he saw the fel- 
low’s eyes go wide and an ashen hue replace the 
copper bronze of his cheek. He stepped back as 
though someone had struck him in the face. For 
an instant only he stood thus as in a paralysis of 
fear, then he uttered a smothered shriek and turned 
and fled. Again was it a catastrophe that Ghek, 
the kaldane, could not smile. 

Quickly entering the room he crawled to the 
table top' and affixed himself to the shoulders of 
his rykor, and there he waited; and who may say 
that Ghek, though he could not smile, possessed not 
a sense of humor? For a half-hour he sat there, 
and then there came to him the sound of men ap- 


GHEK PLAYS PRANKS 


201 


preaching along corridors of stone. He could hear 
their arms clank against the rocky walls and he 
knew that they came at a rapid pace; but just before 
they reached the entrance to his prison they paused 
and advanced more slowly. In the lead was an 
officer, and just behind him, wide-eyed and perhaps 
still a little ashen, the warrior who had so recently 
departed in haste. At the doorway they halted and 
the officer turned sternly upon the warrior. With 
upraised finger he pointed at Ghek. 

“There sits the creature! Didst thou dare lie, 
then, to thy dwar?’^ 

“I swear,” cried the warrior, “that I spoke the 
truth. But a moment since the thing groveled, 
headless, upon this very table! And may my first 
ancestor strike me dead upon the spot if I speak 
other than a true word!” 

The officer looked puzzled. The men of Mars 
seldom if ever lie. He scratched his head. Then 
he addressed Ghek. “How long have you been 
here?” he asked. 

“Who knows better than those who placed me 
here and chained me to a wall?” he returned in 
reply. 

“ Saw you this warrior enter here a few minutes 
since ? ” 

“I saw him,” replied Ghek. 

“And you sat there where you sit now?” con- 
tinued the officer. 


202 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


‘‘Look thou to my chain and tell me then where 
else might I sit ! ” cried Ghek. “Art the people of 
thy city all fools?’’ 

Three other warriors pressed behind the two in 
front, craning their necks to view the prisoner while 
they grinned at the discomfiture of their fellow. 
The officer scowled at Ghek. 

“ Thy tongue is as venomous as that of the she- 
banth O-Tar sent to The Towers of Jetan,” he 
said. 

“You speak of the young woman who was cap- 
tured with me?” asked Ghek, his expressionless 
monotone and face revealing naught of the interest 
he felt. 

“I speak of her,” replied the dwar, and then 
turning to the warrior who had summoned him: 
“Return to thy quarters and remain there until 
the next games. Perhaps by that time thy eyes 
may have learned not to deceive thee.” 

The fellow cast a venomous glance at Ghek and 
turned away. The officer shook his head. “I do 
not understand it,” he muttered. “Always has 
U-Van been a true and dependable warrior. Could 
it be — ?” he glanced piercingly at Ghek. “Thou 
hast a strange head that misfits thy body, fellow,” 
he cried. “Our legends tell us of those ancient 
creatures that placed hallucinations upon the minds 
of their fellows. If thou be such then maybe U-Van 
suffered from thy forbidden powers. If thou be 


GHEK PLAYS PRANKS 


203 


such O-Tar will know well how to deal with thee.” 
He wheeled about and motioned his warriors to 
follow him. 

“Waitl” cried Ghek. “Unless I am to be 
starved, send me food.” 

“You have had food,” replied the warrior. 

“Am I to be fed but once a day?” asked Ghek. 
“ I require food oftener than that. Send me food.” 

“ You shall have food,” replied the officer. “ None 
may say that the prisoners of Manator are ill-fed. 
Just are the laws of Manator,” and he departed. 

No sooner had the sounds of their passing died 
away in the distance than Ghek clambered from 
the shoulders of his rykor, and scurried to the bur- 
row where he had hidden the key. Fetching it he 
unlocked the fetter from about the creature’s ankle, 
locked it empty and carried the key farther down 
into the burrow. Then he returned to his place upon 
his brainless servitor. After a while he heard foot- 
steps approaching, whereupon he rose and passed 
into another corridor from that down which he 
knew the warrior was coming. Here he waited 
out of sight, listening. He heard the man enter 
the chamber and halt. He heard a muttered ex- 
clamation, followed by the jangle of metal dishes 
as a salver was slammed upon a table ; then rapidly 
retreating footsteps, which quickly died away in 
the distance. 

Ghek lost no time in returning to the chamber. 


204 the chessmen OF MARS 


recovering the key, relocking the rykor to his chain. 
Then he replaced the key in the burrow, and squat- 
ting on the table beside his headless body, directed 
its hands toward the food. While the rykor ate 
Ghek sat listening for the scraping sandals and clat- 
tering arms that he knew soon would come. Nor 
had he long to wait Ghek scrambled to the shoul- 
ders of his rykor as he heard them coming. Again 
it was the officer who had been summoned by U-Van 
and with him were three warriors. The one directly 
behind him was evidently the same who had brought 
the food, for his eyes went wide when he saw Ghek 
sitting at the table and he looked very foolish as 
the dwar turned his stern glance upon him. 

‘‘It is even as I said,’’ he cried. “He was not 
here when I brought his food.” 

“But he is here now,” said the officer grimly, 
“and his fetter is locked about his ankle. Look! 
it has not been opened — but where is the key? It 
should be upon the table at the end opposite him. 
Where is the key, creature?” he shouted at Ghek. 

“How should I, a prisoner, know better than 
my jailer the whereabouts of the key to my fet- 
ters?” he retorted. 

“But it lay here,” cried the officer, pointing to 
the other end of the table. 

“Did you see it?” asked Ghek. 

The officer hesitated. “No; but it must have 
been there,” he parried. 


GHEK PLAYS PRANKS 


205 


** Did you see the key lying there ? ’’ asked Ghek, 
pointing to another warrior. 

The fellow shook his head negatively. ‘‘And 
you? and you?’’ continued the kaldane addressing 
the others. 

They both admitted that they never had seen 
the key. “And if it had been there how could I 
have reached it?’’ he continued. 

“No, he could not have reached it,” admitted 
the officer; “but there shall be no more of this? 
I-Zav, you will remain here on guard with this 
prisoner until you are relieved.” 

I-Zav looked anything but happy as this intelli- 
gence was transmitted to him, and he eyed Ghek 
suspiciously as the dwar and the other warriors 
turned and left him to his unhappy lot. 


CHAPTER XIII 


A DESPERATE DEED 

E - MED crossed the tower chamber toward Tara 
of Helium and the slave girl, Lan-O. He 
seized the former roughly by a shoulder. ‘‘ Stand ! ” 
he commanded. Tara struck his hand from her 
and rising, backed away. 

"‘Lay not your hand upon the person of a prin- 
cess of Helium, beast!” she warned. 

E-Med laughed. “ Think you that I play at jetan 
for you without first knowing something of the 
stake for which I play?” he demanded. “Come 
here ! ” 

The girl drew herself to her full height, folding 
her arms across her breast, nor did E-Med note 
that the slim fingers of her right hand were in- 
serted beneath the broad leather strap of her har- 
ness where it passed over her left shoulder. 

“And 0-Tar learns of this you shall rue it, 
E-Med,” cried the slave girl; “there be no law 
in Manator that gives you this girl before you 
shall have won her fairly.” 

“What cares O-Tar for her fate?” replied 
E-Med. “Have I not heard? Did she not flout 
the great jeddak, heaping abuse upon him? By 

206 


'A DESPERATE DEED 


207 


my first ancestor, I think 0-Tar might make a jed 
of the man who subdued her,’’ and again he ad- 
vanced toward Tara. 

“ Wait ! ” said the girl in low, even tone. “ Per- 
haps you know not what you do. Sacred to the 
people of Helium are the persons of the women 
of Helium. For the honor of the humblest of 
them would the great jeddak himself unsheathe his 
sword. The greatest nations of Barsoom have 
trembled to the thunders of war in defense of the 
person of Dejah Thoris, my mother. We are but 
mortal and so may die ; but we may not be defiled. 
You may play at jetan for a princess of Helium, 
but though you may win the match, never may you 
claim the reward. If thou wouldst possess a dead 
body press me too far, but know, man of Manator, 
that the blood of The Warlord flows not in the 
veins of Tara of Helium for naught. I have 
spoken.” 

‘‘I know naught of Helium and O-Tar is our 
warlord,” replied E-Med; ‘‘but I do know that I 
would examine more closely the prize that I shall 
play for and win. I would test the lips of her who 
is to be my slave after the next games; nor is it 
well, woman, to drive me too far to anger.” His 
eyes narrowed as he spoke, his visage taking on 
the semblance of that of a snarling beast. “If 
you doubt the truth of my words ask Lan-0, the 
slave girl.” 


2o8 the chessmen QF MARS 


“He speaks truly, O woman of Helium,” inter- 
jected Lan-O. “Try not the temper of E-Med, 
if you value your life.” 

But Tara of Helium made no reply. Already 
had she spoken. She stood in silence now facing 
the burly warrior who approached her. He came 
close and then quite suddenly he seized her and, 
bending, tried to draw her lips to his. 

Lan-O saw the woman from Helium half turn, 
and with a quick movement jerk her right hand 
from where it had lain upon her breast. She saw 
the hand shoot from beneath the arm of E-Med 
and rise behind his shoulder and she saw in the 
hand a long, slim blade. The lips of the warrior 
were drawing closer to those of the woman, but 
they never touched them, for suddenly the man 
straightened, stiffly, a shriek upon his lips, and then 
he crumpled like an empty fur and lay, a shrunken 
heap, upon the floor. Tara of Helium stooped and 
wiped her blade upon his harness. 

Lan-O, wide-eyed, looked with horror upon the 
corpse. “For this we shall both die,” she cried. 

“And who would live a slave in Manator?” asked 
Tara of Helium. 

“ I am not so brave as thou,” said the slave girl, 
“and life is sweet and there is always hope.” 

“Life is sweet,” agreed Tara of Helium, “but 
honor is sacred. But do not fear. When they 
come I shall tell them the truth — that you had 


'A DESPERATE DEED 


209 


no hand in this and no opportunity tp prevent it.” 

For a moment the slave girl seemed to be think- 
ing deeply. Suddenly her eyes lighted. ** There 
is a way, perhaps,” she said, ‘‘ to turn suspicion from 
us. He has the key to this chamber upon him. Let 
us open the door and drag him out — maybe we 
shall find a place to hide him.” 

“ Good ! ” exclaimed Tara of Helium, and the two 
immediately set about the matter Lan-0 had sug- 
gested. Quickly they found the key and unlatched 
the door and then, between them, they half car- 
ried, half dragged, the corpse of E-Med from the 
room and down the stairway to the next level where 
Lan-0 said there were vacant chambers. The first 
door they tried was unlatched, and through this 
the two bore their grisly burden into a small room 
lighted by a single window. The apartment bore 
evidence of having been utilized as a living-room 
rather than as a cell, being furnished with a degree 
of comfort and even luxury. The walls were 
paneled to a height of about seven feet from the 
floor, while the plaster above and the ceiling were 
decorated with faded paintings of another day. 

As Tara’s eyes ran quickly over the interior her 
attention was drawn to a section of paneling that 
seemed to be separated at one edge from the piece 
next adjoining it. Quickly she crossed to it, dis- 
covering that one vertical edge of an entire panel 
projected a half-inch beyond the others. There was 


210 THF, CHESSMEN OF MARS 


a possible e^^ptoation which piqued her curiosity, 
and acting upon its suggestion she seized upon the 
projecting edge and pulled outward. Slowly the 
panel swung toward her, revealing a dark aperture 
in the wall behind. 

‘‘Look, Lan-O!” she cried. ‘‘See what I have 
found — a hole in which we may hide the thing 
upon the floor.” 

Lan-O joined her and together the two investi- 
gated the dark aperture, finding a small platform 
from which a narrow runway led downward into 
Stygian darkness. Thick dust covered the floor 
within the doorway, indicating that a great period 
of time had elapsed since human foot had trod it 
— a secret way, doubtless, unknown to living Man- 
atorian. Here they dragged the corpse of E-Med, 
leaving it upon the platform, and as they left the 
dark and forbidden closet Lan-O would have 
slammed to the panel had not Tara prevented. 

“Wait!” she said, and fell to examining the 
door frame and the stile. 

“Hurry!” whispered the slave girl. “If they 
come we are lost.” 

“It may serve us well to know how to open 
this place again,” replied Tara of Helium, and then 
suddenly she pressed a foot against a section of 
the carved base at the right of the open panel. 
“Ah!” she breathed, a note of satisfaction in her 
tone, and closed the panel until it fitted snugly in 


^ DESPERATE DEED 


2II 


its place. ‘‘Ceme!’' she said and turned toward 
the outer doorway of the chamber. 

They reached their own cell without detection, 
and closing the door Tara locked it from the inside 
and placed the key in a secret pocket in her harness. 

“Let them come,” she said. “Let them ques- 
tion us! What could two poor prisoners know of 
the whereabouts of their noble jailer? I ask you, 
Lan-O, what could they?” 

“Nothing,” admitted Lan-O, smiling with her 
companion. 

“Tell me of these men of Manator,” said Tara 
presently. “Are they all like E-Med, or are some 
of them like A-Kor, who seemed a brave and chiv- 
alrous character?” 

“They are not unlike the peoples of other coun- 
tries,” replied Lan-O. “ There be among them both 
good and bad. They are brave warriors and mighty. 
Among themselves they are not without chivalry 
and honor, but in their dealings with strangers they 
know but one law — the law of might. The weak 
and unfortunate of other lands fill them with con- 
tempt and arouse all that is worst in their natures, 
which doubtless accounts for their treatment of us, 
their slaves.” 

“But why should they feel contempt for those 
who have suffered the misfortune of falling into 
their hands?” queried Tara. 

“ I do not know,” said Lan-O ; “ A-Kor says that 


212 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


he believes that it is because their country has never 
been invaded by a victorious foe. In their stealthy 
raids never have they been defeated, because they 
have never waited to face a powerful force, and 
so they have come to believe themselves invincible, 
and the other peoples are held in contempt as in- 
ferior in valor and the practice of arms.’* 

‘‘Yet A-Kor is one of them,” said Tara^ 

“He is a son of O-Tar, the jeddak,” replied 
Lan-O ; “ but his mother was a high born Gatholian, 
captured and made slave by O-Tar, and A-Kor 
boasts that in his veins runs only the blood of his 
mother, and indeed is he different from the others. 
His chivalry is of a gentler form, though not even 
his worst enemy has dared question his courage, 
while his skill with the sword, and the spear, and 
the thoat is famous throughout the length and 
breadth of Manator.” 

“What think you they will do with him?” asked 
Tara of Helium. 

“Sentence him to the games,” replied Lan-O. 
“If O-Tar be not greatly angered he may be sen- 
tenced to but a single game, in which case he may 
come out alive; but if O-Tar wishes really to dis- 
pose of him he will be sentenced to the entire series, 
and no warrior has ever survived the full ten, or 
rather none who was under a sentence from O-Tar.” 

“What are the games? I do not understand,” 
said Tara. “I have heard them speak of playing 


^ DESPERATE DEED 


213 


at jetan, but surely no one can be killed at jetan. 
,We play it often at home/’ 

“But not as they play it in the arena at Man- 
ator,” replied Lan-0. “ Come to the window/’ and 
together the two approached an aperture facing 
toward the east. 

Below her Tara of Helium saw a great field 
entirely surrounded by the low building, and the 
loft]^ towers of which that in which she was im- 
prisoned was but a unit. About the arena were 
tiers of seats; but the thing that caught her atten- 
tion was a gigantic jetan board laid out upon the 
door of the arena in great squares of alternate 
orange and black. 

“Here they play at jetan with living pieces. 
They play for great stakes and usually for a woman 
— some slave of exceptional beauty. O-Tar him- 
self might have played for you had you not angered 
him, but now you will be played for in an open 
game by slaves and criminals, and you will belong 
to the side that wins — not to a single warrior, but 
to all who survive the game.” 

The eyes of Tara of Helium flashed, but she 
made no comment. 

“Those who direct the play do not necessarily 
take part in it,” continued the slave girl, “but sit 
in those two great thrones which you see at either 
end of the board and direct their pieces from square 
to square.” 


214 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


^‘But where lies the danger?” asked Tara of 
Helium. “ If a piece be taken it is merely removed 
from the board — this is a rule of jetan as old 
almost as the civilization of Barsoom.” 

“But here in Manator, when they play in the 
great arena with living men, that rule is altered,” 
explained Lan-O. “When a warrior is moved to 
a square occupied by an opposing piece, the two 
battle to the death for possession of the square and 
the one that is successful advantages by the move. 
Each is caparisoned to simulate the piece he rep- 
resents and in addition he wears that which indi- 
cates whether he be slave, a warrior serving a 
sentence, or a volunteer. If serving a sentence the 
number of games he must play is also indicated, 
and thus the one directing the moves knows which 
pieces to risk and which to conserve, and further 
than this, a man’s chances are affected by the posi- 
tion that is assigned him for the game. Those 
whom they wish to die are always Panthans in the 
game, for the Pan than has the least chance of sur- 
viving.” 

“ Do those who direct the play ever actually take 
part in it?” asked Tara. 

“ Oh, yes,” said Lan-O. “ Often when two war- 
riors, even of the highest class, hold a grievance 
against one another 0-Tar compels them to settle 
it upon the arena. Then it is that they take active 
part and with drawn swords direct their own 


A DESPERATE DEED 


215 


players from the position of Chief. They pick their 
own players, usually the best of their own warriors 
and slaves, if they be powerful men who possess 
such, or their friends may volunteer, or they may 
obtain prisoners from the pits. These are games 
indeed — the very best that are seen. Often the 
great chiefs themselves are slain.’’ 

‘‘It is within this amphitheater that the justice 
of Manator is meted, then?” asked Tara. 

“ Very largely,’’ replied Lan-O. 

“How, then, through such justice, could a pris- 
oner win his liberty?” continued the girl from 
Helium. 

“If a man, and he survived ten games his lib- 
erty would be his,” replied Lan-O. 

“But none ever survives?” queried Tara. “And 
if a woman?” 

“No stranger within the gates of Manator ever 
has survived ten games,” replied the slave girl. 
“They are permitted to offer themselves into per- 
petual slavery if they prefer that to fighting at jetan. 
Of course they may be called upon, as any war- 
rior. to take part in a game; but their chances then 
of surviving are increased, since they may never 
again have the chance of winning to liberty.” 

“But a womart” insisted Tara; “how may a 
woman win her freedom?” 

Lan-O laughed. “Very simply,” she cried, de- 
risively. “ She has but to find a warrior who will 


2i6 the chessmen OF MARS 


fight through ten consecutive games for her and 
survive.” 

** ‘ Just are the laws of Manator/ ” quoted Tara, 
scornfully. 

Then it was that they heard footsteps outside 
their cell and a moment later a key turned in the 
lock and the door opened. A warrior faced them. 

‘‘Hast seen E-Med the dwar?” he asked. 

“Yes,” replied Tara, “he was here some time 
ago.” 

The man glanced quickly about the bare cham- 
ber and then search ingly first at Tara of Helium 
and then at the slave girl, Lan-O. The puzzled 
expression upon his face increased. He scratched 
his head. “It is strange,” he said. “A score of 
men saw him ascend into this tower; and though 
there is but a single exit, and that well guarded, 
no man has seen him pass out.” 

Tara of Helium hid a yawn with the back of a 
shapely hand. “The Princess of Helium is hungry, 
fellow,” she drawled; “tell your master that she 
would eat.” 

It was an hour later that food was brought, an 
officer and several warriors accompanying the 
bearer. The former examined the room carefully, 
but there was no sign that aught amiss had oc- 
curred there. The wound that had sent E-Med 
the dwar to his ancestors had not bled, fortunately 
for Tara of Helium. 


A DESPERATE DEED 


217 


‘‘Woman/’ cried the officer, turning upon Tara, 
“ you were the last to see E-Med the dwar. Answer 
me now and answer me truthfully. Did you see 
him leave this room?” 

“I did,” answered Tara of Helium. 

“Where did he go from here?” 

“How should I know? Think you that I can 
pass through a locked door of skeel?” the girl’s 
tone was scornful. 

“Of that we do not know,” said the officer. 
“ Strange things have happened in the cell of your 
companion in the pits of Manator. Perhaps you 
could pass through a locked door of skeel as easily 
as he performs seemingly more impossible feats.” 

“Whom do you mean,” she cried; “Turan the 
panthan? He lives, then? Tell me, is he here in 
Manator unharmed?” 

“I speak of that thing which calls itself Ghek 
the kaldane,” replied the officer. 

“But Turan! Tell me, padwar, have you heard 
aught of him?” Tara’s tone was insistent and she 
leaned a little forward toward the officer, her lips 
slightly parted in expectancy. 

Into the eyes of the slave girl, Lan-O, who was 
watching her, there crept a soft light of under-^ 
standing; but the officer ignored Tara’s question 
— what was the fate of another slave to him? 
“ Men do not disappear into thin air,” he growled, 
“and if E-Med be not found soon 0-Tar himself 


2i8 the chessmen QF MARS 


may take a hand in this. I warn you, woman, if 
you be one of those horrid Corphals that by com- 
manding the spirits of the wicked dead gains evil 
mastery over the living, as many now believe the 
thing called Ghek to be, that lest you return E-Med, 
O-Tar will have no mercy on you.’’ 

“What foolishness is this?” cried the girl. “I 
am a princess of Helium, as I have told you all a 
score of times. Even if the fabled Corphals existed, 
as none but the most ignorant now believes, the lore 
of the ancients tells us that they entered only into 
the bodies of wicked criminals of the lowest class. 
Man of Manator, thou art a fool, and thy jeddak 
and all his people,” and she turned her royal back 
upon the padwar, and gazed through the window 
across the Field of Jetan and the roofs of Manator 
toward the low hills and the rolling country and 
freedom. 

“And you know so much of Corphals, then,” he 
cried, “you know that while no common man dare 
harm them they may be slain by the hand of a 
jeddak with impunity!” 

The girl did not reply, nor would she speak again, 
for all his threats and rage, for she knew now that 
none in all Manator dared harm her save O-Tar, 
the jeddak, and after a while the padwar left, tak- 
ing his men with him. And after they had gone 
Tara stood for long looking out upon the city of 
Manator, and wondering what more of cruel wrongs 


'A DESPERATE DEED 


219 


Fate held in store for her. She was standing thus 
in silent meditation when there rose to her the 
strains of martial music from the city below — the 
deep, mellow tones of the long war trumpets of 
mounted troops, the clear, ringing notes of foot- 
soldiers’ music. The girl raised her head and looked 
about, listening, and Lan-O, standing at an oppo- 
site window, looking toward the west, motioned 
Tara to join her. Now they could see across roofs 
and avenues to The Gate of Enemies, through 
which troops were marching into the city. 

“ The Great Jed is coming,” said Lan-O; ‘‘ none 
other dares enter thus, with blaring trumpets, the 
city of Manator. It is U-Thor, Jed of Manatos, 
second city of Manator. They call him The Great 
Jed the length and breadth of Manator, and be- 
cause the people love him, O-Tar hates him. They 
say, who know, that it would need but slight provo- 
cation to inflame the two to war. How such a 
war would end no one could guess, for the people 
of Manator worship the great O-Tar, though they 
do not love him. U-Thor they love, but he is not 
the jeddak,” and Tara understood, as only a Mar- 
tian may, how much that simple statement encom- 
passed. 

The loyalty of a Martian to his jeddak is almost 
an instinct, and second not even to the instinct of 
self-preservation at that. Nor is this strange in 
a race whose religion includes ancestor worship. 


220 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


and where families tr^e their origin back into 
remote ages and a jeddak sits upon the same throne 
that his direct progenitors have occupied for, per- 
haps, hundreds of thousands of years, and rules the 
descendants of the same people that his forebears 
ruled. Wicked jeddaks have been dethroned, but 
seldom are they replaced by other than members 
of the imperial house, even though the law gives 
to the jeds the right to select whom they please. 

‘‘U-Thor is a just man and good, then?” asked 
Tara of Helium. 

“There be none nobler,” replied Lan-0. “In 
Manatos none but wicked criminals who deserve 
death are forced to play at jetan, and even then 
the play is fair and they have their chance for free- 
dom. Volunteers may play, but the moves are not 
necessarily to the death — a wound, and even some- 
times points in swordplay, deciding the issue. There 
they look upon jetan as a martial sport — here it 
is but butchery. And U-Thor is opposed to the 
ancient slave raids and to the policy that keeps 
Manator forever isolated from the other nations 
of Barsoom; but U-Thor is not jeddak and so there 
is no change.” 

The two girls watched the column moving up 
the broad avenue from The Gate of Enemies 
toward the palace of O-Tar. A gorgeous, bar- 
baric procession of painted warriors in jewel-studded 
harness and waving feathers; vicious, squealing 


DESPERATE DEED 


221 


thoats caparisoned in rich trappings; far above 
their heads the long lances of their riders bore flut » 
tering pennons; foot-soldiers swinging easily along 
the stone pavement, their sandals of zitidar hide 
giving forth no sound; and at the rear of each 
utan a train of painted chariots, drawn by mam- 
moth zitidars, carrying the equipment of the com- 
pany to which they were attached. Utan after 
utan entered through the great gate, and even when 
the head of the column reached the palace of O-Tar 
they were not all within the city. 

have been here many years,^’ said the girl, 
Lan-O; ‘‘but never have I seen even The Great 
Jed bring so many fighting men into the city of 
Manator.’* 

Through half-closed eyes Tara of Helium watched 
the warriors marching up the broad avenue, trying 
to imagine them the fighting men of her beloved 
Helium coming to the rescue of their princess. That 
splendid figure upon the great thoat might be John 
Carter, himself. Warlord of Barsoom, and behind 
him utan after utan of the veterans of the empire, 
and then the girl opened her eyes again and saw 
the host of painted, befeathered barbarians, and 
sighed. But yet she watched, fascinated by the 
martial scene, and now she noted again the groups 
of silent figures upon the balconies. No waving 
silks; no cries of welcome; no showers of flowers 
and jewels such as would have marked the entry 


222 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


of such a splendid, friendly pageant into the twin 
cities of her birth. 

“The people do not seem friendly to the war- 
riors of Manatos,” she remarked to Lan-O; “I 
have not seen a single welcoming sign from the 
people on the balconies.” 

The slave girl looked at her in surprise. “It 
cannot be that you do not know!” she exclaimed. 
“Why, they are — ” but she got no further. The 
door swung open and an officer stood before them. 

“The slave girl, Tara, is summoned to the pres- 
ence of 0-Tar, the jeddak!” he announced. 


CHAPTER XIV 

AT GHEK's command 

T URAN the panthan chafed in his chains. Time' 
dragged; silence and monotony prolonged 
minutes into hours. Uncertainty of the fate of 
the woman he loved turned each hour into an 
eternity of hell. He listened impatiently for the 
sound of approaching footsteps that he might see 
and speak to some living creature and learn, per- 
chance, some word of Tara of Helium. After tor- 
turing hours his ears were rewarded by the rattle 
of harness and arms. Men were coming! He 
waited breathlessly. Perhaps they were his exe- 
cutioners; but he would welcome them notwith- 
standing. He would question them. But if they 
knew naught of Tara he would not divulge the loca- 
tion of the hiding place in which he had left her. 

Now they came — a half-dozen warriors and an 
officer, escorting an unarmed man; a prisoner, 
doubtless. Of this Turan was not left long in 
doubt, since they brought the newcomer and chained 
him to an adjoining ring. Immediately the panthan 
commenced to question the officer in charge of the 
guard. 

‘‘ Tell me,” he demanded, ‘‘ why I have been made 
223 


224 the chessmen of mars 


prisoner, and if other strangers were captured since 
I entered your city.’’ 

‘‘What other prisoners?” asked the officer. 

“A woman, and a man with a strange head,” 
replied Turan. 

“It is possible,” said the officer; “but what were 
their names?” 

“The woman was Tara, Princess of Helium, and 
the man was Ghek, a kaldane, of Bantoom.” 

“These were your friends?” asked the officer. 

“Yes,” replied Turan. 

“ It is what I would know,” said the officer, and 
with a curt command to his men to follow him 
he turned and left the cell. 

“Tell me of them!” cried Turan after him. 
“Tell me of Tara of Helium! Is she safe?” but 
the man did not answer and soon the sound of 
their departure died in the distance. 

“Tara of Helium was safe but a short time 
since,” said the prisoner chained at Turan’s side. 

The panthan turned toward the speaker, seeing 
a large man, handsome of face and with a man- 
ner both stately and dignified. “You have seen 
her?” he asked. “They captured her then? She 
is in danger?” 

“She is being held in The Towers of Jetan as 
a prize for the next games,” replied the stranger. 

“And who are you?” asked Turan. “And why 
are you here, a prisoner?” 



Gahan of Gathol smote the man from his mount 


1 



AT GHEK^S COMMAND 


225 


‘‘I am A-Kor the dwar, keeper of The Towers 
of Jetan,” replied the other. ‘‘I am here because 
I dared speak the truth of 0-Tar the jeddak, to 
one of his officers.” 

“And your punishment?” asked Turan. 

“I do not know. 0-Tar has not yet spoken. 
Doubtless the games — perhaps the full ten, for 
O-Tar does not love A-Kor, his son.” 

“You are the jeddak’s son,” asked Turan. 

“I am the son of O-Tar and of a slave, Haja 
of Gatlrol, who was a princess in her own land.” 

Turan looked searchingly at the speaker. A son 
of Haja of Gathol! A son of his mother’s sister, 
this man, then, was his own cousin. Well did 
Gahan remember the mysterious disappearance of 
the Princess Haja and an entire utan of her per- 
sonal troops. She had been upon a visit far from 
the city of Gathol and returning home had van- 
ished with her whole escort from the sight of man. 
So this was the secret of the seeming mystery? 
Doubtless it explained many other similar disap- 
pearances that extended nearly as far back as the 
history of Gathol. Turan scrutinized his com- 
panion, discovering many evidences of resemblance 
to his mother’s people. A-Kor might have been 
ten years younger than he, but such differences in 
age are scarce accounted among a people who 
seldom or never age outwardly after maturity and 
whose span of life may be a thousand years. 


226 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“And where lies Gathol?’’ asked Turan. 

“Almost due east of Manator/' replied A-Kor. 

“And how far?’’ 

“ Some twenty-one degrees it is from the city of 
Manator to the city of Gathol,” replied A-Kor; 
“ but little more than ten degrees between the boun- 
daries of the two countries. Between them, though, 
there lies a country of torn rocks and yawning 
chasms.” 

Well did Gahan know this country that bordered 
his upon the west — even the ships of the air 
avoided it because of the treacherous currents that 
rose from the deep chasms, and the almost total 
absence of safe landings. He knew now where 
Manator lay and for the first time in long weeks 
the way to his own Gathol, and here was a man, a 
fellow prisoner, in whose veins flowed the blood 
of his own ancestors — a man who knew Manator; 
its people, its customs and the country surrounding 
it — one who could aid him, with advice at least, 
to find a plan for the rescue of Tara of Helium 
and for escape. But would A-Kor — could he dare 
broach the subject? He could do no less than try. 

“And O-Tar you think will sentence you to 
death?” he asked; “and why?” 

“ He would like to,” replied A-Kor, “ for the peo- 
ple chafe beneath his iron hand and their loyalty 
is but the loyalty of a people to the long line of 
illustrious jeddaks from which he has sprung. He 


AT GHEK'S COMMAND 


227 


is a: jealous man and has found the means of dis- 
posing of most of those whose blood might entitle 
them to a claim upon the throne, and whose place 
in the affections of the people endowed them with 
any political significance. The fact that I was the 
son of a slave relegated me to a position of minor 
importance in the consideration of O-Tar, yet I 
am still the son of a jeddak and might sit upon the 
throne of Manator with as perfect congruity as 
O-Tar himself. Combined with this is the fact that 
of recent years the people, and especially many of 
the younger warriors, have evinced a growing 
affection for me, which I attribute to certain vir- 
tues of character and training derived from my 
mother, but which O-Tar assumes to be the result 
of an ambition upon my part to occupy the throng 
of Manator. 

‘‘And now, I am firmly convinced, he has seized 
upon my criticism of his treatment of the slave girl 
Tara as a pretext for ridding himself of me.” 

“But if you could escape and reach Gathol,” 
suggested Turan. 

“I have thought of that,” mused A-Kor; “but 
how much better off would I be? In the eyes of 
the Gatholians I would be, not a Gatholian; but a! 
stranger and doubtless they would accord me the 
same treatment that we of Manator accord 
strangers.” 

“Could you convince them that you are the son 


228 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


of the Princess Haja your welcome would be as- 
sured,’’ said Turan; ‘‘while on the other hand you 
could purchase your freedom and citizenship with 
a brief period of labor in the diamond mines.” 

“ How know you all these things ? ” asked A-Kor. 
“I thought you were from Helium.” 

“I am a panthan,” replied Turan, “and I have 
served many countries, among them Gathol.” 

“It is what the slaves from Gathol have told 
me,” said A-Kor, thoughtfully, “and my mother, 
before 0-Tar sent her to live at Manatos. I think 
he must have feared her power and influence among 
the slaves from Gathol and their descendants, who 
number perhaps a million people throughout the 
land of Manator.” 

“Are these slaves organized?” asked Turan. 

A-Kor looked straight into the eyes of the panthan 
for a long moment before he replied. “You are a 
man of honor,” he said; “I read it in your face, 
and I am seldom mistaken in my estimate of a man; 
but — ” and he leaned closer to the other — “even 
the walls have ears,” he whispered, and Turan’s 
^question was answered. 

It was later in the evening that warriors came 
and unlocked the fetter from Turan’s ankle and led 
him away to appear before O-Tar, the jeddak. 
They conducted him toward the palace along nar- 
row, winding streets and broad avenues ; but always 
froni the balconies there looked down upon them 


AT GHEK^S COMMAND 


22 ^. 

in endless ranks the silent people of the city. Thc' 
palace itself was filled with life and activity. 
Mounted warriors galloped through the corridors' 
and up and down the runways connecting adjacent 
floors. It seemed that no one walked within the* 
palace other than a few slaves. Squealing, fighting 
thoats were stabled in magnificent halls while their 
riders, if not upon some duty of the palace, played' 
at jetan with small figures carved from wood. 

Turan noted the magnificence of the interior 
architecture of the palace, the lavish expenditure 
of precious jewels and metals, the gorgeous muraL 
decorations which depicted almost exclusively mar- 
tial scenes, and principally duels which seemed to 
be fought upon jetan boards of heroic size. The 
capitals of many of the columns supporting the' 
ceilings of the corridors and chambers through' 
which they passed were wrought into formal like- 
nesses of jetan pieces — everywhere there seemed"' 
a suggestion of the game. Along the same path 
that Tara of Helium had been led Turan was con- 
ducted toward the throne room of 0-Tar the jed- 
dak, and when he entered the Hall of Chiefs his 
interest turned to wonder and admiration as he 
viewed the ranks of statuesque thoatmen decked in 
their gorgeous, martial panoply. Never, he thought, 
had he seen upon Barsoom more soldierly figures 
or thoats so perfectly trained to perfection of im- 
mobility as these. Not a muscle quivered, not a;. 


1230 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


tail lashed, and the riders were as motionless as 
their mounts — each warlike eye straight to the 
front, the great spears inclined at the same angle. 
It was a picture to fill the breast of a fighting man 
with awe and reverence. Nor did it fail in its 
effect upon Turan as they conducted him the length 
of the chamber, where he waited before great doors 
until he should be summoned into the presence of 
the ruler of Manator. 

When Tara of Helium was ushered into the 
throne room of 0-Tar she found the great hall 
filled with the chiefs and officers of O-Tar and 
U-Thor, the latter occupying the place of honor 
at the foot of the throne, as was his due. The 
girl was conducted to the foot of the aisle and 
halted before the jeddak, who looked down upon 
her from his high throne with scowling brows and 
fierce, cruel eyes. 

‘‘The laws of Manator are just,” said O-Tar, 
addressing her ; “ thus is it that you have been sum- 
moned here again to be judged by the highest 
authority of Manator. Word has reached me that 
you are suspected of being a Corphal. What word 
have you to say in refutation of the charge?” 

Tara of Helium could scarce restrain a sneer as 
she answered the ridiculous accusation of witch- 
craft. “So ancient is the culture of my people,” 
she said, “ that authentic history reveals no defense 


"AT GHEK^S COMMAND 


231 


for that which we know existed only in the ignorant 
and superstitious minds of the most primitive peo- 
ples of the past. To those who are yet so untutored 
as to believe in the existence of Corphals, there can 
be no argument that will convince them of their 
error — only long ages of refinement and culture 
can accomplish their release from the bondage of 
ignorance. I have spoken.’’ 

‘^Yet you do not deny the accusation,” said 
O-Tar. 

It is not worthy the dignity of a denial,” she 
responded haughtily. 

‘‘And I were you, woman,” said a deep voice 
at her side, “I should, nevertheless, deny it.” 

Tara of Helium turned to see the eyes of U-Thor, 
the great jed of Manatos, upon her. Brave eyes 
they were, but neither cold nor cruel. O-Tar 
rapped impatiently upon the arm of his throne. 
“U-Thor forgets,” he cried, “that O-Tar is the 
jeddak.” 

“U-Thor remembers,” replied the jed of Mana- 
tos, “that the laws of Manator permit any who 
may be accused to have advice and counsel before 
their judge.” 

Tara of Helium saw that for some reason this 
man would have assisted her, and so she acted upon 
his advice. 

“ I deny the charge,” she said, “ I am no Corphal.” 

“ Of that we shall learn,” snapped O-Tar. 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


232 


^‘U-Dor, where are those who have knowledge of 
the powers of this woman?” 

And U-Dor brought several who recounted the 
little that was known of the disappearance of E-Med, 
and others who told of the capture of Ghek and 
Tara, suggesting by deduction that having been 
found together they had sufficient in common to 
make it reasonably certain that one was as bad as 
the other, and that, therefore, it remained but to 
convict one of them of Corphalism to make cer- 
tain the guilt of both. And then O-Tar called 
for Ghek, and immediately the hideous kaldane was 
dragged before him by warriors who could not con- 
ceal the fear in which they held this creature. 

“And you!” said O-Tar in cold accusing tones. 
“Already have I been told enough of you to war- 
rant me in passing through your heart the jeddak’s 
steel — of how you stole the brains from the war- 
rior U-Van so that he thought he saw your head- 
less body still endowed with life ; of how you caused 
another to believe that you had escaped, making 
him to see naught but an empty bench and a blank 
w^all where you had been.” 

“Ah, O-Tar, but that is as nothing!” cried a 
young pad war who had come in command of the 
escort that brought Ghek. “The thing which he 
did to I-Zav, here, would prove his guilt alone.” 

“ What did he to the warrior I-Zav ? ” demanded 
O-Tar. “Let I-Zav speak!” 


AT GHEK^S COMMAND 


233: 


The warrior I-Zav, a great fellow of bulging 
muscles and thick neck, advanced to the foot of the 
throne. He was pale and still trembling visibly as 
from a nervous shock. 

‘‘Let my first ancestor be my witness, 0-Tar, 
that I speak the truth,” he began. “I was left to 
guard this creature, who sat upon a bench, shackled 
to the wall. I stood by the open doorway at the 
opposite side of the chamber. He could not reach 
me, yet, O-Tar, may Iss engulf me if he did not 
drag me to him helpless as an unhatched egg. He 
dragged me to him, greatest of jeddaks, with his 
eyes! With his eyes he seized upon my eyes and 
dragged me to him and he made me lay my swords 
and dagger upon the table and back off into a cor- 
ner, and still keeping his eyes upon my eyes his 
head quitted his body and crawling upon six short 
legs it descended to the floor and backed part way 
into the hole of an ulsio, but not so far that the 
eyes were not still upon me and then it returned 
with the key to its fetter and after resuming its 
place upon its own shoulders it unlocked the fetter 
and again dragged me across the room and made 
me to sit upon the bench where it had been and 
there it fastened the fetter about my ankle, and I 
could do naught for the power of its eyes and the 
fact that it wore my two swords and my dagger. 
And then the head disappeared down the hole of 
the ulsio with the key, and when it returned, it 


254 the chessmen OF MARS 


resumed its body and stood guard over me at the 
doorway until the pad war came to fetch it hither/" 

‘‘It is enough!"" said O-Tar, sternly. “Both 
shall receive the jeddak’s steel,"" and rising from 
his throne he drew his long sword and descended 
the marble steps toward them, while two brawny 
warriors seized Tara by either arm and two seized 
Ghek, holding them facing the naked blade of the 
jeddak. 

“Hold, just O-Tar!"" cried U-Dor. “There be 
yet another to be judged. Let us confront him 
who calls himself Turan with these his fellows 
before they die."’ 

“Good!"" exclaimed O-Tar, pausing half way 
down the steps. “Fetch Turan, the slave!"" 

When Turan had been bro^ ght into the cham- 
ber he was placed a little tc rara"s left and a step 
nearer the throne. O-Tar eyed him menacingly. 

“You are Turan,"" he asked, “friend and com- 
panion of these?"" 

The panthan was about to reply when Tara of 
Helium spoke. “I know not this fellow,"" she said. 
“ Who dares say that he be a friend and companion 
of the Princess Tara of Helium?"" 

Turan and Ghek looked at her in surprise, but 
at Turan she did not look, and to Ghek she passed 
ia quick glance of warning, as to say: “Hold thy 
peace ! ” 

The panthan tried not to fathom her purpose for 


AT GHEK^S COMMAND 


235 


the head is useless when the heart usurps its func- 
tions, and Turan knew only that the woman he 
loved had denied him, and though he tried not even 
to think it his foolish heart urged but a single ex- 
planation — that she refused to recognize him lest 
she be involved in his difficulties. 

O-Tar looked first at one and then at another 
of them; but none of them spoke. 

‘‘Were they not captured together?” he asked 
of U-Dor. 

“No,” replied the dwar. “He who is called 
Turan was found seeking entrance to the city and 
was enticed to the pits. The following morning I 
discovered the other two upon the hill beyond The 
Gate of Enennes.” 

“But they are friends and companions,” said a 
young padwar, “ for this Turan inquired of me con- 
cerning these two, calling them by name and saying 
that they were his friends.” 

“It is enough,” stated O-Tar, “all three shall 
die,” and he took another step downward from the 
throne. 

“For what shall we die?” asked Ghek. “Your 
people prate of the just laws of Manator, and yet 
you would slay three strangers without telling them 
of what crime they are accused.” 

“He is right,” said a deep voice. It was the 
voice of U-Thor, the great jed of Manatos. O-Tar 
looked at him and scow'led; but there came voices 


236 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


from other portions of the chamber seconding the 
'demand for justice. 

“ Then know, though you shall die anyway,'' cried 
O-Tar, “ that all three are convicted of Corphalism 
and that as only a jeddak may slay such as you in 
safety you are about to be honored with the steel 
t)f 0-Tar." 

‘"Fool!" cried Turan. ‘‘Know you not that in 
the veins of this woman flows the blood of ten thou- 
sand jeddaks — that greater than yours is her power 
in her own land? She is Tara, Princess of Helium, 
:great-granddaughter of Tardos Mors, daughter of 
John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom. She cannot be 
a Corphal. Nor is this creature Ghek, nor am I. 
And you would know more, I can prove my right 
to be heard and to be believed if I may have word 
with the Princess Haja of Gathol, whose son is my 
fellow prisoner in the pits of 0-Tar, his father." 

At this U-Thor rose to his feet and faced 0-Tar. 
41 What means this ? " he asked. “ Speaks the man 
the truth? Is the son of Haja a prisoner in thy 
pits, O-Tar?" 

“And what is it to the jed of Manatos who be the 
prisoners in the pits of his jeddak?" demanded 
O-Tar, angrily. 

“ It is this to the jed of Manatos," replied U-Thor 
in a voice so low as to be scarce more than a whisper 
and yet that was heard the whole length and breadth 
of the great throne room of O-Tar, Jeddak of Man- 


AT GHEK'S COMMAND 


237 


ator. ‘‘You gave me a slave woman, Haja, who 
had been a princess in Gathol, because you feared 
her influence among the slaves from Gathol. I have 
made of her a free woman, and I have married her 
and made her thus a princess of Manatos. Her son 
is my son, O-Tar, and though thou be my jeddak, 
I say to you that for any harm that befalls A-Kor 
you shall answer to U-Thor of Manatos.” 

O-Tar looked long at U-Thor, but he made no 
reply. Then he turned again to Turan. “If one 
be a Corphal,” he said, “ then all of you be Corphals, 
and we know well from the things that this creature 
has done,” he pointed at Ghek, “ that he is a Corphal, 
for no mortal has such powers as he. And as you 
are all Corphals you must all die.” He took another 
step downward, when Ghek spoke. 

“These two have no such powers as I,” he said. 
“They are but ordinary, brainless things such as 
yourself. I have done all the things that your poor, 
ignorant warriors have told you ; but this only dem- 
onstrates that I am of a higher order than your- 
selves, as is indeed the fact. I am a kaldane, not a 
Corphal. There is nothing supernatural or mys- 
terious about me, other than that to the ignorant all 
things which they cannot understand are mysterious. 
Easily might I have eluded your warriors and es- 
caped your pits; but I remained in the hope that I 
might help these two foolish creatures who have not 
the brains to escape without help. They befriended 


238 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


me and saved my life. I owe them this debt. Do 
not slay them — they are harmless. Slay me if you 
will. I offer my life if it will appease your ignorant 
wrath. I cannot return to Bantoom and so I might 
as well die, for there is no pleasure in intercourse 
with the feeble intellects that cumber the face of 
the world outside the valley of Bantoom.” 

“Hideous egotist,” said O-Tar, “prepare to die 
and assume not to dictate to O-Tar the jeddak. He 
has passed sentence and all three of you shall feel 
the jeddak’s naked steel. I have spoken!” 

He took another step downward and then a 
strange thing happened. He paused, his eyes fixed 
upon the eyes of Ghek. His sword slipped from 
nerveless fingers, and still he stood there swaying 
forward and back. A jed rose to rush to his side; 
but Ghek stopped him with a word. 

“Wait!” he cried. “The life of your jeddak is 
in my hands. You believe me a Corphal and so you 
believe, too, that only the sword of a jeddak may 
slay me, therefore your blades are useless against 
me. Offer harm to any one of us, or seek to ap- 
proach your jeddak until I have spoken, and he shall 
sink lifeless to the marble. Release the two pris- 
oners and let them come to my side — I would 
speak to them, privately. Quick! do as I say; I 
would as lief as not slay O-Tar. I but let him live 
that I may gain freedom for my friends — obstruct 
me and he dies.” 


AT GHEK'S COMMAND 


239 


The guards fell back, releasing Tara and Turan, 
who came close to Ghek's side. 

“ Do as I tell you and do it quickly,” whispered 
the kaldane. ‘‘I cannot hold this fellow long, nor 
could I kill him thus. There are many minds work- 
ing against mine and presently mine will tire and 
O-Tar will be himself again. You must make the 
best of your opportunity while you may. Behind the 
arras that you see hanging in the rear of the throne 
above you is a secret opening. From it a corridor 
leads to the pits of the palace, where there are store- 
rooms containing food and drink. Few people go 
there. From these pits lead others to all parts of 
the city. Follow one that runs due west and it will 
bring you to The Gate of Enemies. The rest will 
then lie with you. I can do no more ; hurry before 
my waning powers fail me — I am not as Luud, 
who was a king. He could have held this creature 
forever. Make haste! Go!” 


CUTTER XV 

THE OLD MAN OE THE PITS 

*‘T SHALL not desert you, Ghek,’’ said Tara of 

X Helium, simply. 

‘‘Go! Go!’’ whispered the kaldane. “You can 
do me no good. Go, or all I have done is for 
tiaught.” 

Tara shook her head. “ I cannot,” she said. 

“They will slay her,” said Ghek to Turan, and 
the panthan, torn between loyalty to this strange 
creature who had offered its life for him, and love 
of the woman, hesitated but a moment, then he 
swept Tara from her feet and lifting her in his arms 
leaped up the steps that led to the throne of Mana- 
tor. Behind the throne he parted the arras and 
found the secret opening. Into this he bore the girl 
and down a long, narrow corridor and winding run- 
ways that led to lower levels until they came to the 
pits of the palace of 0-Tar. Here was a labyrinth 
of passages and chambers presenting a thousand hid- 
ing-places. 

As Turan bore Tara up the steps toward the 
throne a score of warriors rose as though to rush 
forward to intercept them. “Stay!” cried Ghek, 
“er your jeddak dies,” and they halted in their 
240 


THE OLD MAN OF THE PITS 241 


tracks, waiting the will of this strange, uncanny 
creature. 

Presently Ghek took his eyes from the eyes of 
O-Tar and the jeddak shook himself as one who 
would be rid of a bad dream and straightened up, 
half dazed still. 

“Look,” said Ghek, then, “I have given your 
jeddak his life, nor have I harmed one of those 
whom I might easily have slain when they were 
in my power. No harm have I or my friends done 
in the city of Manator. Why then should you perse- 
cute us? Give us our lives. Give us our liberty.” 

O-Tar, now in command of his faculties, stooped 
and regained his sword. In the room was silence 
as all waited to hear the jeddak’s answer. 

“Just are the laws of Manator,” he said at last. 
“ Perhaps, after all, there is truth in the words of 
the stranger. Return him then to the pits and pur- 
sue the others and capture them. Through the 
mercy of O-Tar they shall be permitted to win their 
freedom upon the Field of Jetan, in the coming 
games.” 

Still ashen was the face of the jeddak as Ghek 
was led away and his appearance was that of a man 
who had been snatched from the brink of eternity 
into which he has gazed, not with the composure of 
great courage, but with fear. There were those in 
the throne room who knew that the execution of 
the three prisoners had but been delayed and the re- 


242 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


sponsibility placed upon the shoulders of others, and 
one of those who knew was U-Thor, the great jed 
of Manatos. His curling lip betokened his scorn of 
the jeddak who had chosen humiliation rather than 
death. He knew that 0-Tar had lost more of pres- 
tige in those few moments than he could regain in 
a lifetime, for the Martians are jealous of the cour- 
age of their chiefs — there can be no evasions of 
stern duty, no temporizing with honor. That there 
were others in the room who shared U-Thor’s be- 
lief was evidenced by the silence and the grim 
scowls. 

O-Tar glanced quickly around. He must have 
sensed the hostility and guessed its cause, for he 
went suddenly angry, and as one who seeks by the 
vehemence of his words to establish the courage of 
his heart he roared forth what could be considered 
as naught other than a challenge. 

“The will of O-Tar, the jeddak, is the law of 
Manator,” he cried, “and the laws of Manator are 
just— they cannot err. U-Dor, dispatch those who 
will search the palace, the pits, and the city, and re- 
turn the fugitives to their cells. 

“And now for you, U-Thor of Manatos? Think 
you with impunity to threaten your jeddak — to 
question his right to punish traitors and instigators 
of treason? What am I to think of your own 
loyalty, who takes to wife a woman I have banished 
from my court because of her intrigues against the 


THE OLD MAN OF THE PITS 243 


authority of her jeddak and her master ? But 0 -Tar 
is just. Make your explanations and your peace, 
then, before it is too late.” 

“ U-Thor has nothing to explain,” replied the jed 
of Manatos; '‘nor is he at war with his jeddak; but 
he has the right that every jed and every warrior 
enjoys, of demanding justice at the hands of the 
jeddak for whomsoever he believes to be persecuted. 
With increasing rigor has the jeddak of Manator 
persecuted the slaves from Gathol since he took to 
himself the unwilling Princess Haja. If the slaves 
from Gathol have harbored thoughts of vengeance 
and escape ’tis no more than might be expected from 
a proud and courageous people. Ever have I coun- 
selled greater fairness in our treatment of our slaves, 
many of whom, in their own lands, are people of 
great distinction and power; but always has O-Tar, 
the jeddak, flouted with arrogance my every sug- 
gestion. Though it has been through none of my 
seeking that the question has arisen now I am glad 
that it has, for the time was bound to come when 
the jeds of Manator would demand from O-Tar 
the respect and consideration that is their due from 
the man who holds his high office at their pleasure. 
Know, then, O-Tar, that you must free A-Kor, the 
dwar, forthwith or bring him to fair trial before 
the assembled jeds of Manator. I have spoken.” 

" You have spoken well and to the point, 
U-Thor,” cried O-Tar, " for you have revealed to 


244 the chessmen OF MARS 


your jeddak and your fellow jeds the depth of the 
disloyalty that I have long suspected. A-Kor 
already has been tried and sentenced by the supreme 
tribunal of Manator — 0-Tar, the jeddak; and you 
too shall receive justice from the same unfailing 
source. In the meantime you are under arrest. To 
the pits with him! To the pits with U-Thor the 
false jed!” He clapped his hands to summon the 
surrounding warriors to do his bidding. A score 
leaped forward to seize U-Thor. They were war- 
riors of the palace, mostly; but two score leaped 
to defend U-Thor, and with ringing steel they 
fought at the foot of the steps to the throne of 
Manator where stood 0-Tar, the jeddak, with drawn 
sword ready to take his part in the melee. 

At the clash of steel, palace guards rushed to 
the scene from other parts of the great building 
until those who would have defended U-Thor were 
outnumbered two to one, and then the jed of Man- 
atos slowly withdrew with his forces, and fighting 
his way through the corridors and chambers of the 
palace came at last to the avenue. Here he was 
reinforced by the little army that had marched with 
him into Manator. Slowly they retreated toward 
The Gate of Enemies between the rows of silent 
people looking down upon them from the balconies 
and there, within the city walls, they made their 
stand. 

In a dimly-lighted chamber beneath the palace of 


THE OLD M'AN OF THE PITS 245 


O-Tar the jeddak, Turan the panthan lowered Tara 
of Helium from his arms and faced her. am 
sorry. Princess,’’ he said, “that I was forced to 
disobey your commands, or to abandon Ghek; but 
there was no other way. Could he have saved you 
I would have stayed in his place. Tell me that you 
forgive me.” 

“How could I do less?” she replied graciously. 
“ But it seemed cowardly to abandon a friend.” 

“Had we been three fighting men it had been 
different,” he said. “We could only have remained 
and died together, fighting; but you know, Tara of 
Helium, that we may not jeopardize a woman’s 
safety even though we risk the loss of honor.” 

“I know that, Turan,” she said; “but no one 
may say that you have risked honor, who knows 
the honor and bravery that are yours.” 

He heard her with surprise for these were the 
first words that she had spoken to him that did 
not savor of the attitude of a princess to a 
panthan — though it was more in her tone than the 
actual words that he apprehended the difference. 
How at variance were they to her recent repudiation 
of him ! He could not fathom her, and so he blurted 
out the question that had been in his mind since she 
had told O-Tar that she ^id not know him. 

“ Tara of Helium,” he said, “ your words are balm 
to the wound you gave me in the throne room of 
O-Tar. Tell me, Princess, why you denied me.” 


246 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


She turned her great, deep eyes up to his and in 
them was a little of reproach. 

‘‘You did not guess,’’ she asked, “that it was my 
lips alone and not my heart that denied you ? O-Tar 
had ordered that I die, more because I was a com- 
panion of Ghek than because of any evidence 
against me, and so I knew that if I acknowledged 
you as one of us, you would be slain, too.” 

“It was to save me, then?” he cried, his face 
suddenly lighting. 

“ It was to save my brave panthan,” she said in 
a low voice. 

“ Tara of Helium,” said the warrior, dropping to 
one knee, “your words are as food to my hungry 
heart,” and he took her fingers in his and pressed 
them to his lips. 

Gently she raised him to his feet. “You need 
not tell me, kneeling,” she said, softly. 

Her hand was still in his as he rose and they 
were very close, and the man was still flushed with 
the contact of her body since he had carried her 
from the throne room of O-Tar. He felt his heart 
pounding in his breast and the hot blood surging 
through his veins as he looked at her beautiful face, 
with its downcast eyes and the half-parted lips that 
he would have given a kingdom to possess, and then 
he swept her to him and as he crushed her against 
his breast his lips smothered hers with kisses. 

But only for an instant. Like a tigress the girl 


THE OLD MAN OF THE PITS 247 


turned upon him, striking him, and thrusting him 
away. She stepped back, her head high and her 
eyes flashing fire. “You would dare?” she cried. 
“ You would dare thus defile a princess of Helium? ” 

His eyes met hers squarely and there was no 
shame and no remorse in them. 

“Yes, I would dare,” he said. “I would dare 
love Tara of Helium; but I would not dare defile 
her or any woman with kisses that were not 
prompted by love of her alone.” He stepped closer 
to her and laid his hands upon her shoulders. 
“Look into my eyes, daughter of The Warlord,” 
he said, “ and tell me that you do not wish the love 
of Turan, the panthan.” 

“I do not wish your love,” she cried, pulling 
away. “I hate you!” and then turning away she 
bent her head into the hollow ©f her arm, and wept. 

The man took a step toward her as though to 
comfort her when he was arrested by the soimd of 
a cackling laugh behind him. Wheeling about, he 
discovered a strange figure of a man standing in a 
doorway. It was one of those rarities occasionally 
to be seen upon Barsoom — an old man with the 
signs of age upon him. Bent and wrinkled, he had 
more the appearance of a mummy than a man. 

“ Love in the pits of 0 -Tar ! ” he cried, and again 
his thin laughter jarred upon the silence of the sub- 
terranean vaults. ‘‘A strange place to woo! A 
strange place to woo, indeed ! When I was a young 


24 S THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


man we roamed in the gardens beneath giant 
pimalias and stole our kisses in the brief shadows of 
hurtling Thuria. We came not to the gloomy pits 
to speak of love ; but times have changed and ways 
have changed, though I had never thought to live 
to see the time when the way of a man with a 
maid, or a maid with a man would change. Ah, 
but we kissed them then! And what if they ob- 
jected, eh? What if they objected? Why, we 
kissed them more. Ey, ey, those were the days!’’ 
and he cackled again. “Ey, well do I recall the 
first of them I ever kissed, and I’ve kissed an army 
of them since; she was a fine girl, but she tried to 
slip a dagger into me while I was kissing her. Ey, 
ey, those were the days! But I kissed her. She’s 
been dead over a thousand years now, but she was 
never kissed again like that while she lived, I’ll 
swear, nor since she’s been dead, either. And then 
there was that other — ” but Turan, seeing a thou- 
sand or more years of osculatory memoirs portend- 
ing, interrupted. 

‘‘Tell me, ancient one,” he said, “not of thy 
loves but of thyself. Who are you? What do you 
here in the pits of 0-Tar?” 

“ I might ask you the same, young man,” replied 
the other. “ Few there are who visit the pits other 
than the dead, except my pupils — ey! That is 
it — you are new pupils ! Good ! But never before 
have they sent a woman to learn the great art from 


THE OLD MAN OF THE PITS 249 


the greatest artist. But times have changed. Now, 
in my day the women did no work — they were just 
for kissing and loving. Ey, those were the women. 
I mind the one we captured in the south — ey! she 
was a devil, but how she could love. She had 
breasts of marble and a heart of fire. Why, she ” 

‘‘Yes, yes,” interrupted Turan; “we are pupils, 
and we are anxious to get to work. Lead on and 
we will follow.” 

“Ey, yes ! Ey, yes ! Come ! All is rush and hurry 
as though there were not another countless myriad, 
of ages ahead. Ey, yes! as many as lie behind. 
Two thousand years have passed since I broke my 
shell and always rush, rush, rush, yet I can- 
not see that aught has been accomplished. Manator 
is the same today as it was then — except the girls. 
We had the girls then. There was one that I gained 
upon The Fields of Jetan. Ey, but you should have 


“ Lead on ! ” cried Turan. “After we are at work 
you shall tell us of her.” 

“Ey, yes,” said the old fellow and shuffled off 
down a dimly lighted passage. “Follow me!” 

“You are going with him?” asked Tara. 

“Why not?” replied Turan. “We know not 
where we are, or the way from these pits; for I 
know not east from west; but he doubtless knows 
and if we are shrewd we may learn from him that 
which we would know. At least we cannot afford 


250 the chessmen OF MARS 


to arouse his suspicions”; and so they followed 
him — followed along winding corridors and 
through many chambers, until they came at last 
to a room in which there were several marble slabs 
raised upon pedestals some three feet above the floor 
and upon each slab lay a human corpse. 

‘‘Here we are,” exclaimed the old man. “These 
are fresh and we shall have to get to work upon 
them soon. I am working now on one for The Gate 
of Enemies. He slew many of our warriors. Truly 
is he entitled to a place in The Gate. Come, you 
shall see him.” 

He led them to an adjoining apartment. Upon 
the floor were many fresh, human bones and upon 
a marble slab a mass of shapeless flesh. 

“You will learn this later,” announced the old 
man; “but it will not harm you to watch me now, 
for there are not many thus prepared, and it may 
be long before you will have the opportunity to see 
another prepared for The Gate of Enemies. First, 
you see, I remove all the bones, carefully that the 
skin may be damaged as little as possible. The skull 
is the most difficult, but it can be removed by a 
skilful artist. You see, I have made but a single 
opening. This I now sew up, and that done, the 
body is hung so,” and he fastened a piece of rope 
to the hair of the corpse and swung the horrid 
thing to a ring in the ceiling. Directly below it was 
a circular manhole in the floor from which he re- 


THE OLD MAN OF THE PITS 251 


moved the cover revealing a well partially filled with 
a reddieh liquid. ‘^Now we lower it into this, the 
formula for which you shall learn in due time. We 
fasten it thus to the bottom of the cover, which we 
now replace. In a year it will be ready ; but it must 
be examined often in the meantime and the liquid 
kept above the level of its crown. It will be a very 
beautiful piece, this one, when it is ready. 

‘‘And you are fortunate again, for there is one to 
come out today.” He crossed to the opposite side of 
the room and raised another cover, reached in and 
dragged a grotesque looking figure from the hole. 
It was a human body, shrunk by the action of the 
chemical in which it had been immersed, to a little 
figure scarce a foot high. 

“Ey! is it not fine?” cried the little old man. 
“Tomorrow it will take its place in The Gate of 
Enemies.” He dried it off with cloths and packed 
it away carefully in a basket. “ Perhaps you would 
like to see some of my life work,” he suggested, and 
without waiting for their assent led them to another 
apartment, a large chamber in which were forty or 
fifty people. All were sitting or standing quietly 
about the walls, with the exception of one huge 
warrior who bestrode a great thoat in the very 
center of the room, and all were motionless. In- 
stantly there sprang to the minds of Tara and Turan 
the rows of silent people upon the balconies that 
lined the avenues of the city, and the noble array 


2S2 the chessmen of mars 


of mounted warriors in The Hall of Chiefs, and 
the same explanation came to both but neither dared 
voice the question that was in his mind, for fear of 
revealing by his ignorance the fact that they were 
strangers in Manator and therefore impostors in 
the guise of pupils. 

''It is very wonderful,” said Turan. "It must 
require great skill and patience and time.” 

"That it does,” replied the old man, "though 
having done it so long I am quicker than most; but 
mine are the most natural. Why, I would defy the 
wife of that warrior to say that insofar as appear- 
ances are concerned he does not live,” and he pointed 
at the man upon the thoat. "Many of them, of 
course, are brought here wasted or badly wounded 
and these I have to repair. That is where great 
skill is required, for everyone wants his dead to 
look as they did at their best in life ; but you shall 
learn — to mount them and paint them and repair 
them and sometimes to make an ugly one look beau- 
tiful. And it will be a great comfort to be able to 
mount your own. Why, for fifteen hundred years 
no one has mounted my own dead but myself. 

"I have many, my balconies are crowded with 
them; but I keep a great room for my wives. I 
have them all, as far back as the first one, and many 
is the evening I spend with them — quiet evenings 
and very pleasant. And then the pleasure of pre- 
paring them and making them even more beautiful 


THE OLD MAN OF THE PITS 253 

than in life partially recompenses one for their loss. 
I take my time with them, looking for a new one 
while I am working on the old. When I am not 
sure about a new one I bring her 10 tne chamber 
where my wives are, and compare her charms with 
theirs, and there is always a great satisfaction at 
such times in knowing that they will not object. I 
love harmony.” 

‘‘Did you prepare all the warriors in The Hall 
of Chiefs?” asked Turan. 

“Yes, I prepare them and repair them,” replied 
the old man. “O-Tar will trust no other. Even 
now I have two in another room who were dam- 
aged in some way and brought down to me. O-Tar 
does not like to have them gone long, since it leaves 
• wc riderless thoats in the Hall; but I shall have 
them ready presently. He wants them all there in 
the event any momentous question arises upon which 
the living jeds cannot agree, or do not agree with 
O-Tar. Such questions he carries to the jeds in 
The Hall of Chiefs. There he shuts himself up 
alone with the great chiefs who have attained wis- 
dom through death. It is an excellent plan and 
there is never any friction or misunderstandings. 
O-Tar has said that it is the finest deliberative body 
upon Barsoom — much more intelligent than that 
composed of the living jeds. But come, we must 
get to work ; come into the next chamber znd I will 
begin your instruction.” 


254 the chessmen OF MARS 


He led the way into the chamber in which lay the 
several corpses upon their marble slabs, and going 
to a cabinet he donned a pair of huge spectacles and 
commenced to select various tools from little com- 
partments. This done he turned again toward his 
two pupils. 

“ Now let me have a look at you,” he said. “ My 
eyes are not what they once were, and I need these 
powerful lenses for my work, or to see distinctly 
the features of those around me.” 

He turned his eyes upon the two before him. 
Turan held his breath for he knew that now the 
man must discover that they wore not the harness 
or insignia of Manator. He had wondered before 
why the old fellow had not noticed it, for he had 
not known that he was half blind. The other ex- 
amined their faces, his eyes lingering long upon the 
beauty of Tara of Helium, and then they drifted 
to the harness of the two. Turan thought that he 
noted an appreciable start of surprise on the part 
of tlic taxidermist, but if the old man noticed any- 
thing his next words did not reveal it. 

‘‘Come with I-Gos,” he said to Turan, “I have 
materials in the next room that I would have you 
fetch hither. Remain here, woman, we shall be 
gone but a moment.” 

He led the way to one of the numerous doors 
opening into the chamber and entered ahead of 
Turan. Just inside the door he stopped, and point- 


THE OLD MAN OF THE PITS 255 


ing to a bundle of silks and furs upon the opposite 
side of the room directed Turan to fetch them. The 
latter had crossed the room and was stooping to 
raise the bundle when he heard the click of a lock 
behind him. Wheeling instantly he saw that he was 
alone in the room and that the single door was 
closed. Running rapidly to it he strove to open it, 
only to find that he was a prisoner. 

I“Gos, stepping out and locking the door behind 
him, turned toward Tara. 

“Your leather betrayed you,’' he said, laughing 
his cackling laugh. “You sought to deceive old 
I-Gos, but you found that though his eyes are weak 
his brain is not. But it shall not go ill with you. 
You are beautiful and I-Gos loves beautiful women. 
I might not have you elsewhere in Manator, but here 
there is none to deny old I-Gos. Few come to the 
pits of the dead — only those who bring the dead 
and they hasten away as fast as they can. No one 
will know that I-Gos has a beautiful woman locked 
with his dead. I shall ask you no questions and 
then I will not have to give you up, for I will not 
know to whom you belong, eh ? And when you die 
I shall mount you beautifully and place you in the 
chamber with my other women. Will not that be 
fine, eh ? ” He had approached until he stood close 
beside the horrified girl. “ Come ! ” he cried, seizing 
her by the wrist. “ Come to I-Gos ! ” 


CHAPTER XVI 


ANOTHER CHANGE OE NAME 

T URAN dashed himself against the door of hi, 
prison in a vain effort to break through the 
solid skeel to the side of Tara whom he knew to 
be in grave danger, but the heavy panels held and 
he succeeded only in bruising his shoulders and his 
arms. At last he desisted and set about searching 
his prison for some other means of escape. He 
found no other opening in the stone walls, but his 
search revealed a heterogeneous collection of odds 
and ends of arms and apparel, of harness and orna- 
ments and insignia, and sleeping silks and furs in 
great quantities. There were swords and spears and 
several large, two-bladed battle-axes, the heads of 
which bore a striking resemblance to the propellor 
of a small flier. Seizing one of these he attacked 
the door once more with great fury. He expected 
to hear something from I-Gos at this ruthless de- 
struction, but no sound came to him from beyond 
the door, which was, he thought, too thick for the 
human voice to penetrate ; but he would have 
wagered much that I-Gos heard him. Bits of the 
hard wood splintered at each impact of the heavy 
axe, but it was slow work and heavy. Presently he 
256 


'ANOTHER CHANGE OF NAME 257 


was compelled to rest, and so it went for what 
seemed hours — working almost to the verge of ex- 
haustion and then resting for a few minutes; but 
ever the hole grew larger though he could see noth- 
ing of the interior of the room beyond because of 
the hanging that I-Gos had drawn across it after 
he had locked Turan within. 

At last, however, the panthan had hewn an open- 
ing through which his body could pass, and seizing 
a long-sword that he had brought close to the door 
for the purpose he crawled through into the next 
room. Flinging aside the arras he stood ready, sword 
in hand, to fight his way to the side of Tara of 
Helium — but she was not there. In the center of 
the room lay I-Gos, dead upon the floor; but Tara 
of Helium was nowhere to be seen. 

Turan was nonplussed. It must have been her 
hand that had struck down the old man, yet she had 
made no effort to release Turan from his prison. 
And then he thought of those last words of hers: 
*‘I do not want your love! I hate you,’' and the 
truth dawned upon him — she had seized upon this 
first opportunity to escape him. With downcast 
heart Turan turned away. What should he do? 
There could be but one answer. While he lived and 
she lived he must still leave no stone unturned to 
effect her escape and safe return to the land of her 
people. But how? How was he even to find his 
way from this labyrinth? How was he to find her 


258 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


again? He walked to the nearest doorway. It 
chanced to be that which led into the room con- 
taining the mounted dead, awaiting transportation 
to balcony or grim room or whatever place was to 
receive them. His eyes travelled to the great, 
painted warrior on the thoat and as they ran over 
the splendid trappings and the serviceable arms a 
new light came into the pain-dulled eyes of the 
panthan. With a quick step he crossed to the side 
of the dead warrior and dragged him from his 
mount. With equal celerity he stripped him of 
his harness and his arms, and tearing off his own, 
donned the regalia of the dead man. Then he 
hastened back to the room in which he had been 
trapped, for there he had seen that which he needed 
to make his disguise complete. In a cabinet he 
found them — pots of paint that the old taxidermist 
had used to place the war-paint in its wide bands 
across the cold faces of dead warriors. 

A few moments later Gahan of Gathol emerged 
from the room a warrior of Manator in every detail 
of harness, equipment, and ornamentation. He had 
removed from the leather of the dead man the 
insignia of his house and rank so that he might 
pass, with the least danger of arousing suspicion, 
as a common warrior. 

To search for Tara of Helium in the vast, dim 
labyrinth of the pits of 0-Tar seemed to the 
Gatholian a hopeless quest, foredoomed to failure. 


^ANOTHER CHANGE OF NAME 259 


It would be wiser to seek the streets of Manator 
where he might hope to learn first if shfe had been 
recaptured and, if not, then he could return to the 
pits and pursue the hunt for her. To find egress 
from the maze he must perforce travel a consider- 
able distance through the winding corridors and 
chambers, since he had no idea as to the location or 
direction of any exit. In fact, he could not have 
retraced his steps a hundred yards toward the point 
at which he and Tara had entered the gloomy 
caverns, and so he set out in the hope that he might 
find by accident either Tara of Helium or a way to 
the street level above. 

For a time he passed room after room filled with 
the cunningly preserved dead of Manator, many of 
which were piled in tiers after the manner that 
firewood is corded, and as he moved through corri- 
dor and chamber he noticed hieroglyphics painted 
upon the walls above every opening and at each fork 
or crossing of corridors, until by observation he 
reached the conclusion that these indicated the desig- 
nations of passageways, so that one who under- 
stood them might travel quickly and surely through 
the pits; but Turan did not understand them. Even 
could he have read the language of Manator they 
might not materially have aided one unfamiliar with 
the city; but he could not read them at all since, 
though there is but one spoken language upon Bar- 
room, there are as many different written languages 


26 o the chessmen OF MARS 


as there are nations. One thing, however, soon 
became apparent to him — the hieroglyphic of a cor- 
ridor remained the same until the corridor ended. 

It was not long before Turan realized from the 
distance that he had traveled that the pits were part 
of a vast system undermining, possibly, the entire 
city. At least he was convinced that he had passed 
beyond the precincts of the palace. The corridors 
and chambers varied in appearance and architecture 
from time to time. All were lighted, though usually 
quite dimly, with radium bulbs. For a long time 
he saw no signs of life other than an occasional 
ulsio, then quite suddenly he came face to face with 
a warrior at one of the numerous crossings. The 
fellow looked at him, nodded, and passed on. Turan 
breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that his dis- 
guise was effective, but he was caught in the middle 
of it by a hail from the warrior who had stopped 
and turned toward him. The panthan was glad 
that a sword hung at his side, and glad too that 
they were buried in the dim recesses oi the pits and 
that there would be but a single antagonist, for time 
was precious. 

‘‘Heard you any word of the other?” called the 
warrior to him. 

“No,” replied Turan, who had not the faintest 
idea to whom or what the fellow referred. 

“ He cannot escape,” continued the warrior. 
“The woman ran directly into our arms, but she 


^AN OTHER CHANGE OF NAME 261' 


swore that she knew not where her companion might 
be found.” 

‘‘They took her back to O-Tar?” asked Turan, 
for now he knew whom the other meant, and he 
would know more. 

“They took her back to The Towers of Jetan,’* 
replied the warrior. “Tomorrow the games com- 
mence and doubtless she will be played for, though 
I doubt if any wants her, beautiful as she is. She 
fears not even O-Tar. By Cluros! but she would 
make a hard slave to subdue — a regular she-banth 
she is. Not for me,” and he continued on his way 
shaking his head. 

Turan hurried on searching for an avenue that 
led to the level of the streets above when suddenly 
he came to the open doorway of a small chamber in 
which sat a man who was chained to the wall. 
Turan voiced a low exclamation of surprise and 
pleasure as he recognized that the man was A-Kor, 
and that he had stumbled by accident upon the very 
cell in which he had been imprisoned. A-Kor looked 
at him questioningly. It was evident that he did 
not recognize his fellow prisoner. Turan crossed 
to the table and leaning close to the other whispered 
to him. 

“I am Turan the panthan,” he said, “who was 
chained beside you.” 

A-Kor looked at him closely. “ Your own mother 
would never know you!” he said; “but tell me. 


262 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


what has transpired since they took you away?*' 

Turan recounted his experiences in the throne 
room of 0-Tar and in the pits beneath, “ and now,’' 
he continued, ‘‘ I must find these Towers of Jeddak 
and see what may be done toward liberating the 
Princess of Helium.” 

A-Kor shook his head. “Long was I dwar of 
the Towers,” he said, “and I can say to you, 
stranger, that you might as well attempt to reduce 
Manator, single handed, as to rescue a prisoner 
from The Towers of Jetan.” 

“But I must,” replied Turan. 

“Are you better than a good swordsman?” asked 
A-Kor presently. 

“ I am accounted so,” replied Turan. 

“Then there is a way — sst!” he was suddenly 
silent and pointing toward the base of the wall at 
the end of the room. 

Turan looked in the direction the other’s fore- 
finger indicated, to see projecting from the mouth 
of an ulsio’s burrow two large chelae and a pair of 
protruding eyes. 

“Ghek!” he cried and immediately the hideous 
kaldane crawled out upon the floor and approached 
the table. A-Kor drew back with a half-stifled 
ejaculation of repulsion. “ Do not fear,” Turan re- 
assured him. “It is my friend — he whom I told 
you held 0-Tar while Tara and I escaped.” 

Ghek climbed to the table top and squatted be- 


ANOTHER CHANGE OF NAME 265 


tween the two warriors. “You are safe in assum- 
ing,” he said addressing A-Kor, “that Turan the 
panthan has no master in all Manator where the 
art of sword-play is concerned. I overheard your 
conversation — go on.” 

“You are his friend,” continued A-Kor, “and so 
I may explain safely in your presence the only plan 
I know whereby he may hope to rescue the Princess 
of Helium. She is to be the stake of one of the 
games and it is O-Tar’s desire that she be won by 
slaves and common warriors, since she repulsed 
him. Thus would he punish her. Not a single 
man, but all who survive upon the winning side are 
to possess her. With money, however, one may buy 
off the others before the game. That you could do, 
and if your side won and you survived she would 
become your slave.” 

“ But how may a stranger and a hunted fugitive 
accomplish this?” asked Turan. 

“No one will recognize you. You will go to- 
morrow to the keeper of the Towers and enlist in 
that game for which the girl is to be the stake, 
telling the keeper that you are from Manataj, the 
farthest city of Manator. If he questions you, you 
may say that you saw her when she was brought 
into the city after her capture. If you win her, 
you will find thoats stabled at my palace and you 
will carry from me a token that will place all that 
is mine at your disposal,” 


264 the chessmen OF MARS 


‘‘But how can I buy off the others in the game 
without money?’' asked Turan. “I have none — 
not even of my own country.” 

A-Kor opened his pocket-pouch and drew forth 
a packet of Manatorian money. 

“Here is sufficient to buy them off twice over,’^ 
he said, handing a portion of it to Turan. 

“ But why do you do this for a stranger?” asked 
the panthan. 

“My mother was a captive princess here,” re- 
plied A-Kor. “ I but do for the Princess of Helium 
what my mother would have me do.” 

“Under the circumstances, then, Manatorian,” 
replied Turan, “I cannot but accept your generosity 
on behalf of Tara of Helium and live in hope that 
some day I may do for you something in return.” 

“ Now you must be gone,” advised A-Kor. “At 
any minute a guard may come and discover you 
here. Go directly to the Avenue of Gates, which 
circles the city just within the outer wall. There 
you will find many places devoted to the lodging 
of strangers. You will know them by the thoat’s 
head carved above the doors. Say that you are here 
from Manataj to witness the games. Take the name 
of U-Kal — it will arouse no suspicion, nor will 
you if you can avoid conversation. Early in the 
morning seek the keeper of The Towers of Jetan. 
May the strength and fortune of all your ancestors 
be with you ! ” 


:another change of name 265 


Bidding good-bye to Ghek and A-Kor, the 
panthan, following directions given him by A-Kor, 
set out to find his way to the Avenue of Gates, nor 
had he any great difficulty. On the way he met 
several warriors, but beyond a nod they gave him 
no heed. With ease he found a lodging place where 
there were many strangers from other cities of 
Manator. As he had had no sleep since the previous 
night he threw himself among the silks and furs of 
his couch to gain the rest which he must have, was 
he to give the best possible account of himself in 
the service of Tara of Helium the following day. 

It was already morning when he awoke, and rising 
he paid for his lodgings, sought a place to eat, and 
a short time later was on his way toward The 
Towers of Jetan, which he had no difficulty in find- 
ing owing to the great crowds that were winding 
along the avenues toward the games. The new 
keeper of The Towers who had succeeded E-Med 
was too busy to scrutinize entries closely, for in 
addition to the many volunteer players there were 
scores of slaves and prisoners being forced into the 
games by their owners or the government. The 
name of each must be recorded as well as the posi- 
tion he was to play and the game or games in which 
he was to be entered, and then there were the sub- 
stitutes for each that was entered in more than a' 
single game — one for each additional game that an 
individual was entered for, that no succeeding game 


266 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


might be delayed by the death or disablement of a 
player. 

‘‘Your name?*' asked a clerk as Turan presented 
himself. 

“ U-Kal/’ replied the panthan. 

“Your city?” 

“ Manataj.” 

The keeper, who was standing beside the clerk, 
looked at Turan. “You have come a great way 
to play at jetan,” he said. “It is seldom that the 
men of Manataj attend other than the decennial 
games. Tell me of 0-Zar! Will he attend next 
year? Ah, but he was a noble fighter. If you be 
half the swordsman, U-Kal, the fame of Manataj 
will increase this day. But tell me, what of 
O-Zar?” 

“He is well,” replied Turan, glibly, “and he sent 
greetings to his friends in Manator.” 

“Good!” exclaimed the keeper, “and now in 
what game would you enter?” 

“ I would play for the Heliumetic princess, 
Tara,” replied Turan. 

“But man, she is to be the stake of a game for 
slaves and criminals,” cried the keeper. “You 
would not volunteer for such a game 1 ” 

“ But I would,” replied Turan. “ I saw her when 
she was brought into the city and even then I 
vowed to possess her.” 

“But you will have to share her with the sur- 


^ANOTHER CHANGE OF NAME 267 


vivors even if your color wins,” objected the other. 

“ They may be brought to reason,” insisted 
Turan. 

*'And you will chance incurring the wrath of 
O-Tar, who has no love for this savage barbarian,” 
explained the keeper. 

“And I win her O-Tar will be rid of her,” said 
Turan. 

The keeper of The Towers of Jetan shook his 
head. “You are rash,” he said. “I would that I 
might dissuade the friend of my friend O-Zar from 
such madness.” 

“Would you favor the friend of O-Zar?” asked 
Turan. 

“ Gladly ! ” exclaimed the other. “ What may I 
do for him ? ” 

“Make me chief of the Black and give me for 
my pieces all slaves from Gathol, for I understand 
that these be excellent warriors,” replied the 
panthan. 

“It is a strange request,” said the keeper, “but 
for my friend O-Zar I would do even more, though 
of course — ” he hesitated — “it is customary for 
one who would be chief to make some slight pay- 
ment.” 

“Certainly,” Turan hastened to assure him; “I 
had not forgotten that. I was about to ask you 
what the customary amount is.” 

“For the friend of my friend it shall be nominal,” 


268 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


replied the keeper, naming a figure that Gahan, ac- 
customed to the high prices of wealthy Gathol, 
thought ridiculously low. 

‘‘Tell me,’' he said, handing the money to the 
keeper, “ when the game for the Heliumite is to be 
played.” 

“It is the second in order of the day’s games; 
and now if you will come with me you may select 
your pieces.” 

Turan followed the keeper to a large court which 
lay between the towers and the jetan field, where 
hundreds of warriors were assembled. Already 
chiefs for the games of the day were selecting their 
pieces and assigning them to positions, though for 
the principal games these matters had been arranged 
for weeks before. The keeper led Turan to a part 
of the courtyard where the majority of the slaves 
were assembled. 

“Take your choice of those not assigned,” said 
the keeper, “and when you have your quota con- 
duct them to the field. Your place will be assigned 
you by an officer there, and there you will Temain 
with your pieces until the second game is called. 
I wish you luck, U-Kal, though from what I have 
heard you will be more lucky to lose than to win 
the slave from Helium.” 

After the fellow had departed Turan approached 
the slaves. “I seek the best swordsmen for the 
second game,” he announced. “ Men from Gathol I 


'ANOTHER CHANGE OF NAME 269 


wish, for I have heard that these be noble fighters.” 

A slave rose and approached him. “ It is all the 
same in which game we die,” he said. ‘‘I would 
fight for you as a panthan in the second game.” 

Another came. I am not from Gathol,” he said, 
am from Helium, and I would fight for the 
honor of a princess of Helium.” 

“Good!” exclaimed Turan. “Art a swordsman 
of repute in Helium?” 

“I was a dwar under the great Warlord, and I 
have fought at his side in a score of battles from 
The Golden Cliffs to The Carrion Caves. My name 
is Val Dor. Who knows Helium, knows my 
prowess.” 

The name was well known to Gahan, who had 
heard the man spoken of on his last visit to Helium, 
and his mysterious disappearance discussed as well 
as his renown as a fighter. 

“How could I know aught of Helium?” asked 
Turan; “but if you be such a fighter as you say no 
position could suit you better than that of Flier. 
What say you ? ” 

The man’s eyes denoted sudden surprise. He 
looked keenly at Turan, his eyes running quickly 
over the other’s harness. Then he stepped quite 
close so that his words might not be overheard. 

“ Me thinks you may know more of Helium than 
of Manator,” he whispered. 

“What mean you, fellow?” demanded Turan, 


270 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


seeking to cudgel his brains for the source of this 
man's knowledge, guess, or inspiration. 

“ I mean," replied Val Dor, “ that you are not of 
Manator and that if you wish to hide the fact it is 
well that you speak not to a Manatorian as you 
did just speak to me of — Fliers! There be no 
Fliers in Manator and no piece in their game of 
Jetan bearing that name. Instead they call him 
who stands next to the Chief or Princess, Odwan 
The piece has the same moves and power that the 
Flier has in the game as played outside Manator. 
Remember this then and remember, too, that if you 
have a secret it be safe in the keeping of Val Dor of 
Helium." 

Turan made no reply but turned to the task of 
selecting the remainder of his pieces. Val Dor, the 
Heliumite, and Floran, the volunteer from Gathol, 
were of great assistance to him, since one or the 
other of them knew most of the slaves from whom 
his selection was to be made. The pieces all chosen, 
Turan led them to the place beside the playing field 
where they were to wait their turn, and here he 
passed the word around that they were to fight for 
more than the stake he offered for the princess 
should they win. This stake they accepted, so that 
Turan was sure of possessing Tara if his side was 
victorious, but he knew that these men would fight 
even more valorously for chivalry than for money, 
nor was it difficult to enlist the interest even of the 


ANOTHER CHANGE OF NAME 271 


Gatholians in the service of the princess. And now 
he held out the possibility of a still further reward. 

“I cannot promise you,’' he explained, ‘‘but I 
may say I have heard that this day which makes 
it possible that should we win this game we may 
even win your freedom!” 

They leaped to their feet and crowded around 
him with many questions. 

^‘It may not be spoken of aloud,” he said; “but 
Ploran and Val Dor know and they assure me that 
you may all be trusted. Listen ! What I would tell 
you places my life in your hands, but you must 
know that every man will realize that he is fighting 
today the greatest battle of his life — for the honor 
and the freedom of Barsoom’s most wondrous 
princess and for his own freedom as well — for 
the chance to return each to his own country and 
to the woman who awaits him there. 

“ First, then, is my secret. I am not of Manator. 
Like yourselves I am a slave, though for the mo- 
ment disguised as a Manatorian from Manataj. My 
country and my identity must remain undisclosed 
for reasons that have no bearing upon our game 
today. I, then, am one of you. I fight for the same 
things that you will fight for. 

“And now for that which I have but just learned. 
U-Thor, the great jed of Manatos, quarreled with 
O-Tar in the palace the day before yesterday and 
their warriors set upon one another. U-Thor was 


272 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


driven as far as The Gate of Enemies, where he 
now lies encamped. At any moment the fight may 
be renewed; but it is thought that U-Thor has sent 
to Manatos for reinforcements. Now, men of 
Gathol, here is the thing that interests you. U-Thor 
has recently taken to wife the Princess Haja of 
Gathol, who was slave to 0-Tar and whose son, 
A-Kor, was dwar of The Towers of Jetan. Haja’s 
heart is filled with loyalty for Gathol and compas- 
sion for her sons who are here enslaved, and this 
latter sentiment she has to some extent transmitted 
to U-Thor. Aid me, therefore, in freeing the 
Princess Taia of Helium and I believe that I can 
aid you and her and myself to escape the city. 
Bend close your ears, slaves of O-Tar, that no cruel 
enemy may hear my words,” and Gahan of Gathol 
v^hispered in low tones the daring plan he had con- 
ceived. “And now,” he demanded, when he had 
finished, “let him who does not dare, speak now.” 
None replied. “Is there none?” 

“And it would not betray you should I cast my 
sword at thy feet, it had been done ere this,” said 
one in low tones pregnant with suppressed feeling. 

“And I!” “And I!” “And I!” chorused the 
others in vibrant whispers. 


CHAPTER XVII 


A PLAY TO THE DEATH 

C LEAR and sweet a trumpet spoke across The 
Fields of Jetan. From The High Tower its 
cool voice floated across the city of Manator and 
above the babel of human discords rising from the 
crowded mass that filled the seats of the stadium 
below. It called the players for the first game, and 
simultaneously there fluttered to the peaks of a 
thousand staffs on tower and battlement and the 
great wall of the stadium the rich, gay pennons of 
the fighting chiefs of Manator. Thus was marked 
the opening of The Jeddak’s Games, the most im- 
portant of the year and second only to the Grand 
Decennial Games. 

Gahan of Gathol watched every play with eagle 
eye. The match was an unimportant one, being 
but to settle some petty dispute between two chiefs, 
and was played with professional jetan players for 
points only. No one was killed and there was but 
little blood spilled. It lasted about an hour and was 
terminated by the chief of the losing side deliberately 
permitting himself to be out-pointed, that the game 
might be called a draw. 

Again the trumpet sounded, this time announcing 
273 


274 the chessmen OF MARS 


the second and last game of the afternoon. While 
this was not considered an important match, those 
being reserved for the fourth and fifth days of the 
games, it promised to afford sufficient excitement 
since it was a game to the death. The vital differ- 
ence between the game played with living men and 
that in which inanimate pieces are used, lies in the 
fact that while in the latter the mere placing of a 
piece upon a square occupied by an opponent piece 
terminates the move, in the former the two pieces 
thus brought together engage in a duel for posses- 
sion of the square. Therefore there enters into the 
former game not only the strategy of jetan but the 
personal prowess and bravery of each individual 
piece, so that a knowledge not only of one^s own men 
but of each player upon the opposing side is of vast 
value to a chief. 

In this respect was Gahan handicapped, though 
the loyalty of his players did much to offset his 
ignorance of them, since they aided him in arrang- 
ing the board to the best advantage and told him 
honestly the faults and virtues of each. One fought 
best in a losing game ; another was too slow ; another 
too impetuous; this one had fire and a heart of steel, 
but lacked endurance. Of the opponents, though, 
they knew little or nothing, and now as the two 
sides took their places upon the black and orange 
squares of the great jetan board Gahan obtained, for 
the first time, a close view of those who opposes 


A PLAY TO THE DEATH 


275 


him. The Orange Chief had not yet entered the 
field, but his men were all In place. Val Dor turned 
to Gahan. “ They are all criminals from the pits 
of Manator,” he said. ‘‘There is no slave among 
them. We shall not have to fight against a single 
fellow-countryman and every life we take will be 
the life of an enemy.’’ 

“It is well,” replied Gahan; “but where is their 
Chief, and where the two Princesses?” 

“They are coming now, see?” and he pointed 
across the field to where two women could be seen 
approaching under guard. 

As they came nearer Gahan saw that one was 
indeed Tara of Helium, but the other he did not 
recognize, and then they were brought to the center 
of the field midway between the two sides and there 
waited until the Orange Chief arrived. 

Floran voiced an exclamation of surprise when 
he recognized him. “By my first ancestor if it is 
not one of their great chiefs,” he said, “and we were 
told that slaves and criminals were to play for the 
stake of this game.” 

His words were interrupted by the keeper of The 
Towers whose duty it was not only to announce 
the games and the stakes, but to act as referee as 
well. 

“ Of this, the second game of the first day of the 
Jeddak’s Games in the four hundred and thirty- 
third year of 0-Tar, Jeddak of Manat(.)r, the 


276 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Princesses of each side shall be the sole stakes and 
to the survivors of the winning side shall belong 
both the Princesses, to do with as they shall see 
fit. The Orange Princess is the slave woman Lan-O 
of Gathol; the Black Princess is the slave woman 
Tara, a princess of Helium. The Black Chief is 
U-Kal of Manataj, a volunteer player; the Orange 
Chief is the dwar U-Dor of the 8th Utan of the 
jeddak of Manator, also a volunteer player. The 
squares shall be contested to the death. Just are 
the laws of Manator ! I have spoken.’* 

The initial move was won by U-Dor, following 
which the two Chiefs escorted their respective 
Princesses to the square each was to occupy. It was 
the first time Gahan had been alone with Tara since 
she had been brought upon the field. He saw her 
scrutinizing him closely as he approached to lead her 
to her place and wondered if she recognized him: 
but if she did she gave no sign of it. He could not 
but remember her last words — hate you!” and 
her desertion of him when he had been locked in 
the room beneath the palace by I-Gos, the taxider- 
mist, and so he did not seek to enlighten her as to his 
identity. He meant to fight for her — to die^for 
her, if necessary — and if he did not die to go on 
fighting to the end for her love. Gahan of Gathol 
was not easily to be discouraged, but he was com- 
pelled to admit that his chances of winning the love 
of Tara of Helium were remote. Already had she 


A PLAY TO THE DEATH 


277 


repulsed him twice. Once as jed of Gathol and 
again as Turan the panthan. Before his love, how- 
ever, came her safety and the former must be rele- 
gated to the background until the latter had been 
achieved. 

Passing among the players already at their sta- 
tions the two took their places upon their respective 
squares. At Tara's left was the Black Chief, Gahan 
of Gathol; directly in front of her the Princess' 
Panthan, Floran of Gathol; and at her right the 
Princess' Odwar, Val Dor of Helium. And each 
of these knew the part that he was to play, win or 
lose, as did each of the other Black players. As 
Tara took her place Val Dor bowed low. ‘‘My 
sword is at your feet, Tara of Helium," he said. 

She turned and looked at him, an expression of 
surprise and incredulity upon her face. “Val Dor, 
the dwar ! " she exclaimed. “ Val Dor of Helium — 
one of my father's trusted captains! Can it be 
possible that my eyes speak the truth?" 

“It is Val Dor, Princess," the warrior replied, 
“and here to die for you if need be, as is every 
wearer of the Black upon this field of jetan today. 
Know Princess," he whispered, “ that upon this side 
is no man of Manator, but each and every is an 
enemy of Manator." 

She cast a quick, meaning glance toward Gahan. 
“But what of him?" she whispered, and then she 
caught her breath quickly in surprise. “Shade of 


278 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


the first jeddak!” she exclaimed. did but just 
recognize him through his disguise.” 

And you trust him ? ” asked Val Dor. ** I know 
him not; but he spoke fairly, as an houorable war- 
rior, and we have taken him at his word.” 

‘‘You have made no mistake,” replied Tara of 
Helium. “I would trust him with my life — with 
my soul ; and you, too, may trust him.” 

Happy indeed would have been Gahan of Gathol 
could he have heard those words; but Fate, who is 
usually unkind to the lover in such matters, or- 
dained it otherwise, and then the game was on. 

U-Dor moved his Princess' Odwar three squares 
diagonally to the right, which placed the piece upon 
the Black Chiefs Odwar's seventh. The move was 
indicative of the game that U-Dor intended play- 
ing — a game of blood, rather than of science — and 
evidenced his contempt for his opponents. 

Gahan followed with his Odwar's Panthan one 
square straight forward, a more scientific move, 
which opened up an avenue for himself through 
his line of Panthans, as well as announcing to the 
players and spectators that he intended having a 
hand in the fighting himself even before the 
exigencies of the game forced it upon him. The 
move elicited a ripple of applause from those sec- 
tions of seats reserved for the common warriors and 
their women, showing perhaps that U-Dor was none 
too popular with these, and, too, it had its effect 


A PLAY TO THE DEATH 


279 


upon the morale of Gahan’s pieces. A Chief may, 
and often does, play almost an entire game without 
leaving his own square, where, mounted upon a 
thoat, he may overlook the entire field and direct 
each move, nor may he be reproached for lack of 
courage should he elect thus to play the game since, 
by the rules, were he to be slain or so badly wounded 
as to be compelled to withdraw, a game that might 
otherwise have been won by the science of his play 
and the prowess of his men would be drawn. To 
invite personal combat, therefore, denotes confidence 
in his own swordsmanship, and great courage, two 
attributes that were calculated to fill the Black play- 
ers with hope and valor when evinced by their Chief 
thus early in the game. 

U-Dor’s next move placed Lan-O’s Odwar upon 
Tara's Odwar's fourth — within striking distance of 
the Black Princess. Another move and the game 
would be lost to Gahan unless the Orange Odwar 
was overthrown, or Tara moved to a position of 
safety; but to move his Princess now would be to 
admit his belief in the superiority of the Orange. In 
the three squares allowed him he could not place 
himself upon the square occupied by the Odwar of 
U-Dor’s Princess. There was only one player upon 
the Black side that might dispute the square 
with the enemy and that was the Chiefs Odwar, 
who stood upon Gahan's left. Gahan turned upon 
his thoat and looked at the man. He was a splendid 


28 o the chessmen OF MARS 


looking fellow, resplendent in the gorgeous trap- 
pings of an Odwar, the five brilliant feathers which 
denoted his position rising defiantly erect from his 
thick, black hair. In common with every player 
upon the field and every spectator in the crowded 
stands he knew what was passing in his Chief’s 
mind. He dared not speak, the ethics of the game 
forbade it, but what his lips might not voice his eyes 
expressed in martial fire, and eloquently: ‘‘The 
honor of the Black and the safety of our Princess 
are secure with me ! ” 

Gahan hesitated no longer. “Chief’s Odwar to 
Princess’ Odwar’s fourth ! ” he commanded. It was 
the courageous move of a leader who had taken up 
the gauntlet thrown down by his opponent. 

The warrior sprang forward and leaped into the 
square occupied by U-Dor’s piece. It was the first 
disputed square of the game. The eyes of the 
players were fastened upon the contestants, the 
spectators leaned forward in their seats after the 
first applause that had greeted the move, and silence 
fell upon the vast assemblage. If the Black went 
down to defeat, U-Dor could move his victorious 
piece on to the square occupied by Tara of Helium 
and the game would be over — over in four moves 
and lost to Gahan of Gathol. If the Orange lost 
U-Dor would have sacrificed one of his most im- 
portant pieces and more than lost what advantage 
the first move might have given him. 


A PLAY TO THE DEATH 281 

Physically the two men appeared perfectly 
matched and each w^s fighting for his life, but from 
the first it was apparent that the Black Odwar was 
the better swordsman, and Gahan knew that he had 
another and perhaps a greater advantage over his 
antagonist. The latter was fighting for his life only, 
without the spur of chivalry or loyalty. The Black 
Odwar had these to strengthen his arm, and besides 
these the knowledge of the thing that Gahan had 
whispered into the ears of his players before the 
game, and so he fought for what is more than life 
to the man of honor. 

It was a duel that held those who witnessed it 
in spellbound silence. The weaving blades gleamed 
in the brilliant sunlight, ringing to the parries of 
cut and thrust. The barbaric harness of the duelists 
lent splendid color to the savage, martial scene. The 
Orange Odwar, forced upon the defensive, was 
fighting madly for his life. The Black, with cool 
and terrible efficiency, was forcing him steadily, step 
by step, into a corner of the square — a position 
from which there could be no escape. To abandon 
the square was to lose it to his opponent and win 
for himself ignoble and immediate death before the 
jeering populace. Spurred on by the seeming hope- 
lessness of his plight, the Orange Odwar burst into 
a sudden fury of offense that forced the Black back 
a half dozen steps, and then the sword of U-Dor's 
piece leaped in and drew first blood, from the 


282 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


shoulder of his merciless opponent. An illy smoth« 
ered cry of encouragement went up from U-Dor’s 
men; the Orange Odwar, encouraged by his single 
success, sought to bear down the Black by the 
rapidity of his attack. There was a moment in 
which the swords moved with a rapidity that no 
man’s eye might follow, and then the Black Odwar 
made a lightning parry of a vicious thrust, leaned 
quickly forward into the opening he had effected, 
and drove his sword through the heart of the 
Orange Odwar — to the hilt he drove it through the 
body of the Orange Odwar. 

A shout arose from the stands, for wherever may 
have been the favor of the spectators, none there 
was who could say that it had not been a pretty 
fight, or that the better man had not won. And 
from the Black players came a sigh of relief as they 
relaxed from the tension of the past moments. 

I shall not weary you with the details of the 
game — only the high features of it are necessary 
to your understanding of the outcome. The fourth 
move after the victory of the Black Odwar found 
Gahan upon U-Dor’s fourth; an Orange Panthan 
was on the adjoining square diagonally to his right 
and the only opposing piece that could engage him 
other than U-Dor himself. 

It had been apparent to both players and spec- 
tators for the past two moves, that Gahan was 
moving straight across the field into the enemy’s 


A PLAY TO THE DEATH 283! 


country to seek personal combat with the Orange 
Chief — that he was staking all upon his belief in 
the superiority of his own swordsmanship, since if 
the two Chiefs engage, the outcome decides the 
game. U-Dor could move out and engage Gahan, 
or he could move his Princess' Panthan upon the 
square occupied by Gahan in the hope that the 
former would defeat the Black Chief and thus draw 
the game, which is the outcome if any other than 
a Chief slays the opposing Chief, or he could move 
away and escape, temporarily, the necessity for per- 
sonal combat, or at least that is evidently what he 
had in mind as was obvious to all who saw him 
scanning the board about him; and his disappoint- 
ment was apparent when he finally discovered that 
Gahan had so placed himself that there was no 
square to which U-Dor could move that it was not 
within Gahan's power to reach at his own next 
move. 

U-Dor had placed his own Princess four squares 
east of Gahan when her position had been threat- 
ened, and he had hoped to lure the Black Chief after 
her and away from U-Dor; but in that he had 
failed. He now discovered that he might play his 
own Odwar into personal combat with Gahan; but 
he had already lost one Odwar and could ill spare 
the other. His position was a delicate one, since he 
did not wish to engage Gahan personally, while it 
appeared that there was little likelihood of his being 


284 the chessmen OF MARS 


able to escape. There was just one hope and that 
lay in his Princess’ Panthan, so, without more delib- 
eration he ordered the piece onto the square occu- 
pied by the Black Chief. 

The sympathies of the spectators were all with 
Gahan now. If he lost, the game would be declared 
a draw, nor do they think better of drawn games 
upon Barsoom than do Earth men. If he won, it 
would doubtless mean a duel between the two 
Chiefs, a development for which they all were 
hoping. The game already bade fair to be a short 
one and it would be an angry crowd should it be 
decided a draw with only two men slain. There 
were great, historic games on record where of the 
forty pieces on the field when the game opened only 
three survived — the two Princesses and the victo- 
rious Chief. 

They blamed U-Dor, though in fact he was well 
within his rights in directing his play as he saw fit, 
nor was a refusal on his part to engage the Black 
Chief necessarily an imputation of cowardice. He 
was a great chief who had conceived a notion to 
possess the slave Tara. There was no honor that 
could accrue to him from engaging in combat with 
slaves and criminals, or an unknown warrior from 
Manataj, nor was the stake of sufficient import to 
warrant the risk. 

But now the duel between Gahan and the Orange 
Panthan was on and the decision of the next move 


A PLAY TO THE DEATH 285 


was no longer in other hands than theirs. It was 
the first time that these Manatorians had seen Gahan 
of Gathol fight, but Tara of Helium knew that he 
was master of his sword. Could he have seen the 
proud light in her eyes as he crossed blades with 
the wearer of the Orange, he might easily have 
wondered if they were the same eyes that had 
flashed fire and hatred at him that time he had 
covered her lips with mad kisses, in the pits of the 
palace of 0 -Tar. As she watched him she could not 
but compare his swordplay with that of the greatest 
swordsman of two worlds — her father, John 
Carter, of Virginia, Prince of Helium, Warlord of 
Barsoom — and she knew that the skill of the Black 
Chief suffered little by the comparison. 

Short and to the point was the duel that decided 
possession of the Orange Chief’s fourth. The spec- 
tators had settled themselves for an interesting en- 
gagement of at least average duration when they 
were brought almost standing by a brilliant flash of 
rapid swordplay that was over ere one could catch 
his breath. They saw the Black Chief step quickly 
back, his point upon the ground, while his opponent, 
his sword slipping from his fingers, clutched his 
breast, sank to his knees and then lunged for- 
ward upon his face. 

And then Gahan of Gathol turned his eyes di- 
rectly upon U-Dor of Manator, three squares away. 
Three squares is a Chief’s move — three squares in 


286 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


any direction or combination of directions, only 
provided that he does not cross the same square 
twice in a given move. The people saw and guessed 
Gahan’s intention. They rose and roared forth 
their approval as he moved deliberately across the 
intervening squares toward the Orange Chief. 

0-Tar, in the royal enclosure, sat frowning upon 
the scene. 0-Tar was angry. He was angry with 
U-Dor for having entered this game for possession 
of a slave, for whom it had been his wish only 
slaves and criminals should strive. He was angry 
with the warrior from Manataj for having so far 
out-generaled and out-fought the men from Mana- 
tor. He was angry with the populace because of 
their open hostility toward one who had basked in 
the sunshine of his favor for long years. O-Tar the 
jeddak had not enjoyed the afternoon. Those who 
surrounded him were equally glum — they, too, 
scowled upon the field, the players, and the people. 
Among them was a bent and wrinkled old man who 
gazed through weak and watery eyes upon the field 
and the players. 

As Gahan entered his square, U-Dor leaped 
toward him with drawn sword with such fury as 
might have overborne a less skilled and powerful 
swordsman. For a minute the fighting was fast 
and furious and by comparison reducing to insig- 
nificance all that had gone before. Here indeed 
were two magnificent swordsmen, and here was to 


A PLAY TO THE DEATH 287 


be a battle that bade fair to make up for whatever 
the people felt they had been defrauded of by the 
shortness of the game. Nor had it continued long 
before many there were who would have prophesied 
that they were witnessing a duel that was to become 
historic in the annals of jetan at Manator. Every 
trick, every subterfuge, known to the art of fence 
these men employed. Time and again each scored 
a point and brought blood to his opponent’s copper 
hide until both were red with gore; but neither 
seemed able to administer the coup de grace. 

From her position upon the opposite side of the 
field Tara of Helium watched the long-drawn battle. 
Always it seemed to her that the Black Chief fought 
upon the defensive, or when he assumed to push 
his opponent, he neglected a thousand openings that 
her practiced eye beheld. Never did he seem in 
real danger, nor never did he appear to exert him- 
self to quite the pitch needful for victory. The duel 
already had been long contested and the day was 
drawing to a close. Presently the sudden transition 
from daylight to darkness which, owing to the 
tenuity of the air upon Barsoom, occurs almost with- 
out the warning twilight of Earth, would occur. 
Would the fight never end? Would the game be 
called a draw after all? What ailed the Black 
Chief?' 

Tara wished that she might answer at least the 
last of these questions for she was sure that Turan 


288 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


the panthan, as she knew him, while fighting bril- 
liantly, was not giving of himself all that he might. 
She could not believe that fear was restraining his 
hand, but that there was something beside inability 
to, push U-Dor more fiercely she was confident 
What it was, however, she could not guess. 

Once she saw Gahan glance quickly up toward 
the sinking sun. In thirty minutes it would be dark. 
And then she saw and all those others saw a strange 
transition steal over the swordplay of the Black 
Chief. It was as though he had been playing with 
the great dwar, U-Dor, all these hours, and now he 
still played with him but there was a difference. He 
played with him terribly as a carnivore plays with 
its victim in the instant before the kill. The Orange 
Chief was helpless now in the hands of a swords- 
man SO superior that there could be no comparison, 
and the people sat in open-mouthed wonder and awe 
as Gahan of Gathol cut his foe to ribbons and then 
struck him down with a blow that cleft him to the 
chin. 

In twenty minutes the sun would set ! But what 
of that? 


CHAPTER XVIII 


A TASK FOR LOYALTY 

L ong and loud was the applause that rose above 
the Field of Jetan at Manator, as The Keeper 
of the Towers summoned the two Princesses and 
the victorious Chief to the center of the field and 
presented to the latter the fruits of his prowess, 
and then, as custom demanded, the victorious 
players, headed by Gahan and the two Princesses, 
formed in procession behind The Keeper of the 
Towers and were conducted to the place of victory 
before the royal enclosure that they might receive 
the commendation of the jeddak. Those who were 
mounted gave up their thoats to slaves as all must 
be on foot for this ceremony. Directly beneath the 
royal enclosure are the gates to one of the tunnels 
that, passing beneath the seats, give ingress or egress 
to or from the Field. Before this gate the party 
halted while O-Tar looked down upon them from 
above. Val Dor and Floran, passing quietly ahead 
of the others, went directly to the gates, where 
they were hidden from those who occupied the en- 
closure with O-Tar. The Keeper of the Towers 
may have noticed them, but so occupied was he 
with the formality of presenting the victorious 
289 


290 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Chief to the jeddak that he paid no attention to 
them. 

‘‘I bring you, O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, U-Kal 
of Manataj,'^ he cried in a loud voice that might 
be heard by as many as possible, '‘victor over the 
Orange in the second of the Jeddak’s Games of the 
four hundred and thirty-third year of O-Tar, and 
the slave woman Tara and the slave woman Lan-O 
that you may bestow these, the stakes, upon U-Kal.’’ 

As he spoke, a little, wrinkled, old man peered 
over the rail of the enclosure down upon the three 
who stood directly behind The Keeper, and strained 
his weak and watery eyes in an effort to satisfy the 
curiosity of old age in a matter of no particular 
import, for what were two slaves and a common 
warrior from Manataj to any who sat with O-Tar 
the jeddak? 

"U-Kal of Manataj,” said O-Tar, "you have de- 
served the stakes. Seldom have we looked upon 
more noble swordplay. And you tire of Manataj 
there be always here in the city of Manator a place 
for you in The Jeddak’s Guard.” 

While the jeddak was speaking the little, old man, 
failing clearly to discern the features of the Black 
Chief, reached into his pocket-pouch and drew forth 
a pair of thick-lensed spectacles, which he placed 
upon his nose. For a moment he scrutinized Gahan 
closely, then he leaped to his feet and addressing 
O-Tar pointed a shaking finger at Gahan. As he 


"A TASK FOR LOYALTY 


291 


rc?se Tara of Helium clutched the Black Chief’s arm. 

Turan ! ” she whispered. ‘‘ It is I-Gos, whom I 
thought to have slain in the pits of 0-Tar. It is 

I-Gos and he recognizes you and will ” 

But what I-Gos would do was already transpiring. 
In his falsetto voice he fairly screamed : ‘‘ It is the 
slave Turan who stole the woman Tara from yoiu“ 
throne room, O-Tar. He desecrated the dead chief 
I-Mal and wears his harness now ! ” 

Instantly all was pandemonium. Warriors drew 
their swords and leaped to their feet. Gahan’s vic- 
torious players rushed forward in a body, sweeping 
The Keeper of the Towers from his feet. Val Dor 
and Floran threw open the gates beneath the royal 
enclosure, opening the tunnel that led to the avenue 
in the city beyond the Towers. Gahan, surrounded 
by his men, drew Tara and Lan-O into the passage- 
way, and at a rapid pace the party sought to reach 
the opposite end of the tunnel before their escape 
could be cut off. They were successful and when 
they emerged into the city the sun had set and dark- 
ness had come, relieved only by an antiquated and 
ineffective lighting system, which cast but a pale 
glow over the shadowy streets. 

Now it was that Tara of Helium guessed why 
the Black Chief had drawn out his duel with U-Dor 
and realized that he might have slain his man at 
almost any moment he had elected. The whole plan 
that Gahan had whispered to his players before the 


292 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


game was thoroughly understood. They were to 
make their way to The Gate of Enemies and there 
offer their services to U-Thor, the great Jed of 
Manatos. The fact that most of them were Gathol- 
ians and that Gahan could lead rescuers to the pit 
where A-Kor, the son of U-Thor’s wife, was con-, 
fined, convinced the Jed of Gathol that they would 
meet with no rebuff at the hands of U-Thor. But 
-even should he refuse them, still were they bound 
together to go on toward freedom, if necessary 
cutting their way through the forces of U-Thor at 
The Gate of Enemies — twenty men against a small 
army; but of such stuff are the warriors of Bar- 
soom. 

They had covered a considerable distance along 
the almost deserted avenue before signs of pursuit 
developed and then there came upon them suddenly 
from behind a dozen warriors mounted on thoats — 
a detachment, evidently, from The Jeddak's Guard. 
Instantly the avenue was a pandemonium of clash- 
ing blades, cursing warriors, and squealing thoats. 
In the first onslaught life blood was spilled upon 
both sides. Two O'f Gahan^s men went down, and 
upon the enemies’ side three riderless thoats attested 
at least a portion of their casualties. 

Gahan was engaged with a fellow who appeared 
to have been selected to account for him only, since 
he rode straight for him and sought to cut him 
down without giving the slightest heed to several 


A TASK FOR LOYALTY 


29S 


who slashed at him as he passed them. The GathoK 
ian, practiced in the art of combating a mounted 
warrior from the ground, sought to reach the left 
side of the fellow's thoat a little to the rider's rear, 
the only position in which he would have any ad- 
vantage over his antagonist, or rather the position 
that would most greatly reduce the advantage of the 
mounted man, and, similarly, the Manatorian strove 
to thwart his design. And so the guardsman 
wheeled and turned his vicious, angry mount while 
Gahan leaped in and out in an effort to reach the 
coveted vantage point, but always seeking some 
other opening in his foe's defense. 

And while they jockeyed for position a rider swept 
swiftly past them. As he passed behind Gahan the 
latter heard a cry of alarm. 

‘‘Turan, they have me!" came to his ears in the 
voice of Tara of Helium. 

A quick glance across his shoulder showed him 
the galloping thoatman in the act of dragging Tara 
to the withers of the beast, and then, with the fury 
of a demon, Gahan of Gathol leaped for his own 
man, dragged him from his mount and as he fell 
smote his head from his shoulders with a single 
cut of his keen sword. Scarce had the body touched 
the pavement when the Gatholian was upon the 
back of the dead warrior's mount, and galloping 
swiftly down the avenue after the diminishing 
figures of Tara and her abductor, the sounds of the. 


:294 the chessmen OF MARS 


fight waning in the distance as he pursued his quarry 
along the avenue that passes the palace of O-Tar and 
leads to The Gate of Enemies. 

Gahan’s mount, carrying but a single rider, 
gained upon that of the Manatorian, so that as 
they neared the palace Gahan was scarce a hun- 
dred yards behind, and now, to his consternation, 
he saw the fellow turn into the great entrance- way. 
For a moment only was he halted by the guards 
and then he disappeared within. Gahan was almost 
upon him then, but evidently he had warned the 
guards, for they leaped out to intercept the 
Gatholian. But no! the fellow could not have 
known that he was pursued, since he had not seen 
Gahan seize a mount, nor would he have thought 
that pursuit would come so soon. If he had passed 
then, so could Gahan pass, for did he not wear the 
trappings of a Manatorian? The Gatholian thought 
quickly, and stopping his thoat called to the guards- 
men to let him pass, ‘‘In the name of O-Tar!” 
They hesitated a moment. 

“Aside ! ” cried Gahan. “ Must the jeddak’s mes- 
senger parley for the right to deliver his message?” 

“To whom would you deliver it?” asked the 
padwar of the guard. 

“Saw you not him who just entered?” cried 
Gahan, and without waiting for a reply urged his 
thoat straight past them into the palace, and while 
they were deliberating what was best to be done, it 


’A TASK FOR LOYALTY 


295 


was too late to do anything — which is not unusual. 

Along the marble corridors Gahan guided his 
thoat, and because he had gone that way before, 
rather than because he knew which way Tara had 
been taken, he followed the runways and passed 
through the chambers that led to the throne room 
of O-Tar. On the second level he met a slave. 

‘‘Which way went he who carried the woman 
before him?” he asked. 

The slave pointed toward a nearby runway that 
led to the third level and Gahan dashed rapidly on 
in pursuit. At the same moment a thoatman, rid- 
ing at a furious pace, approached the palace and 
halted his mount at the gate. 

“ Saw you aught of a warrior pursuing one who 
carried a woman before him on his thoat?” he 
shouted to the guard. 

“He but just passed in,” replied the padwar, 
“saying that he was 0-Tar’s messenger.” 

“He lied,” cried the newcomer. “He was 
Turan, the slave, who stole the woman from the 
throne room two days since. Arouse the palace! 
He must be seized, and alive if possible. It is 
0-Tar"s command.” 

Instantly warriors were dispatched to search for 
the Gatholian and warn the inmates of the palace 
to do likewise. Owing to the games there were 
comparatively few retainers in the great building, 
but those whom they found were immediately 


296 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


enlisted in the search, so that presently at least fifty 
warriors were seeking through the countless cham- 
bers and corridors of the palace of O-Tar. 

As Gahan’s thoat bore him to the third level the 
man glimpsed the hind quarters of another thoat 
disappearing at the turn of a corridor far ahead. 
Urging his own animal forward he raced swiftly 
in pursuit and making the turn discovered only an 
empty corridor ahead. Along this he hurried to 
discover near its farther end a runway to the fourth 
level, which he followed upward. Here he saw 
that he had gained upon his quarry who was just 
turning through a doorway fifty yards ahead. As 
Gahan reached the opening he saw that the war- 
rior had dismounted and was dragging Tara toward 
a small door on the opposite side of the chamber. 
At the same instant the clank of harness to his rear 
caused him to cast a glance behind where, along 
the corridor he had just traversed, he saw three 
warriors approaching on foot at a run. Leaping 
from his thoat Gahan sprang into the chamber 
where Tara was struggling to free herself from the 
grasp of her captor, slammed the door behind him, 
shot the great bolt into its seat, and drawing his 
sword crossed the room at a run to engage the 
Manatorian. The fellow, thus menaced, called 
aloud to Gahan to halt, at the same time thrusting 
Tara at arm’s length and threatening her heart with 
the point of his short-sword. 


'A TASK FOR LOYALTY 


297 


Stay I ” he cried, ‘‘ or the woman dies, for such 
is the conAmand of O-Tar, rather than that she again 
fall into your hands/’ 

Gahan stopped. But a few feet separated him 
from Tara and her captor, yet he was helpless to 
aid her. Slowly the warrior backed toward the 
open doorway behind him, dragging Tara with him. 
The girl struggled and fought, but the warrior was 
a powerful man and having seized her by the har- 
ness from behind was able to hold her in a posi- 
tion of helplessness. 

“Save me, Turan!” she cried. “Let them not 
drag me to a fate worse than death. Better that 
I die now while my eyes behold a brave friend than 
later, fighting alone among enemies in defense of 
my honor.” 

He took a step nearer. The warrior made a 
threatening gesture with his sword close to the soft, 
smooth skin of the princess, and Gahan halted. 

“I cannot, Tara of Helium,” he cried. “Think 
not ill of me that I am weak — that I cannot see 
you die. Too great is my love for you, daughter 
of Helium.” 

The Manatorian warrior, a derisive grin upon 
his lips, backed steadily away. He had almost 
reached the doorway when Gahan saw another war- 
rior in the chamber toward which Tara was being 
borjie — a fellow who moved silently, almost 
stealthily, across the marble floor as he approached 


298 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Tara’s captor from behind. In his right hand he 
grasped a long-sword. 

“Two to one,” thought Gahan, and a grim smile 
touched his lips, for he had no doubt that once 
they had Tara safely in the adjoining chamber the 
two would set upon him. If he could not save her, 
he could at least die for her. 

And then, suddenly, Gahan’s eyes fastened with 
amazement upon the figure of the warrior behind 
the grinning fellow who held Tara and was forcing 
her to the doorway. He saw the newcomer step 
almost within arm’s reach of the other. He saw 
him stop, an expression of malevolent hatred upon 
his features. He saw the great sword swing through 
the arc of a great circle, gathering swift and terrific 
momentum from its own weight backed by the 
brawn of the steel thews that guided it; he saw 
it pass through the feathered skull of the Mana- 
torian, splitting his sardonic grin in twain, and 
open him to the middle of his breast bone. 

As the dead hand relaxed its grasp upon Tara’s 
wrist the girl leaped forward, without a backward 
glance, to Gahan’s side. His left arm encircled 
her, nor did she draw away, as with ready sword 
the Gatholian awaited Fate’s next decree. Before 
them Tara’s deliverer was wiping the blood from 
his sword upon the hair of his victim. He was 
evidently a Manatorian, his trappings those of the 
Jeddak’s Guard, and so his act was inexplicable to 


’A TASK FOR LOYALTY 


299 ^ 

Gahan and to Tara. Presently he sheathed his 
sword and approached them. 

“ When a man chooses to hide his identity behind 
an assumed name/' he said, looking straight into 
Gahan's eyes, “whatever friend pierces the decep- 
tion were no friend if he divulged the other's 
secret." 

He paused as though awaiting a reply. 

“Your integrity has perceived and your lips 
voiced an unalterable truth," replied Gahan, whose 
mind was filled with wonder if the implication could 
by any possibility be true — that this Manatorian 
had guessed his identity. 

“ We are thus agreed," continued the other, “ and 
I may tell you that though I am here known as 
A-Sor, my real name is Tasor." He paused and 
watched Gahan's face intently for any sign of the 
effect of this knowledge and was rewarded with a 
quick, though guarded expression of recognition. 

Tasor! Friend of his youth. The son of that 
great Gatholian noble who had given his life so 
gloriously, however futilely, in an attempt to de- 
fend Gahan's sire from the daggers of the assassins. 
Tasor an under-pad war in the guard of 0-Tar, 
Jeddak of Manator! It was inconceivable — and 
yet it was he; there could be no doubt of it. 

“Tasor," Gahan repeated aloud. “But it is no 
Manatorian name." The statement was half in- 
terrogatory, for Gahan's curiosity was aroused. He 


300 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


would know how his friend and loyal subject had 
become a Manatorian. Long years had passed 
since Tasor had disappeared as mysteriously as 
the Princess Plaja and many other of Gahan’s sub- 
jects. The Jed of Gathol had long supposed him 
dead. 

“No,” replied Tasor, “nor is it a Manatorian 
name. Come, while I search for a hiding place 
for you in some forgotten chamber in one of the 
nntenanted portions of the palace, and as we go 
I will tell you briefly how Tasor the Gatholian 
became A-Sor the Manatorian. 

“It befell that as I rode with a dozen of my 
warriors along the western border of Gathol search- 
ing for zitidars that had strayed from my herds, 
we were set upon and surrounded by a great com- 
pany of Manatorians. They overpowered us, though 
not before half our number was slain and the bal- 
ance helpless from wounds. And so I was brought 
a prisoner to Manataj, a distant city of Manator, 
and there sold into slavery. A woman bought me 
— a princess of Manataj whose wealth and position 
were unequaled in the city of her birth. She loved 
me and when her husband discovered her infatua- 
tion she beseeched me to slay him, and when I 
refused she hired another to do it. Then she mar- 
ried me; but none would have aught to do with 
her in Manataj, for they suspected her guilty knowl- 
edge of her husband's murder. And so we set 


TASK FOR LOYALTY 


301 


out from Manataj for Manatos accompanied by a 
great caravan bearing all her worldly goods and 
jewels and precious metals, and on the way she 
caused the rumor to be spread that she and I had 
died. Then we came to Manator instead, she tak- 
ing a new name and I the name A-Sor, that we 
might not be traced through our names. With her 
great wealth she bought me a post in The Jeddak’s 
Guard and none knows that I am not a Mana- 
torian, for she is dead. She was beautiful, but she 
was a devil.” 

“And you never sought to return to your native 
city?” asked Gahan. 

“ Never has the hope been absent from my heart, 
or my mind empty of a plan,” replied Tasor. “I 
dream of it by day and by night, but always must 
I return to the same conclusion — that there can be 
but a single means for escape. I must wait until 
Fortune favors me with a place in a raiding party 
to Gathol. Then, once within the boundaries of 
my own country, they shall see me no more.” 

“Perhaps your opportunity lies already within 
your grasp,” said Gahan, “has not your fealty to 
your own Jed been undermined by years of associ- 
ation with the men of Manator.” The statement 
was half challenge. 

“And my Jed stood before me now,” cried Tasor, 
“and my avowal could be made without violating 
his confidence, I should cast my sword at his feet 


502 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


and beg the high privilege of dying for him as my 
sire died for his sire.” 

There could be no doubt of his sincerity nor any 
that he was cognizant of Gahan's identity. The Jed 
of Gathol smiled. ‘'And if your Jed were here there 
is little doubt but that he would command you to 
devote your talents and your prowess to the rescue 
of the Princess Tara of Helium,” he said, mean- 
ingly. “And he possessed the knowledge I have 
gained during my captivity he would say to you, 
>‘Go, Tasor, to the pit where A-Kor, son of Haja 
of Gathol, is confined and set him free and with 
him arouse the slaves from Gathol and march to 
The Gate of Enemies and offer your services to 
U-Thor of Manataj, who is wed to Haja of Gathol, 
and ask of him in return that he attack the palace 
of O-Tar and rescue Tara of Helium and when 
that thing is accomplished that he free the slaves 
of Gathol and furnish them with the arms and the 
means to return to their own country.’ That, 
Tasor of Gathol, is what Gahan your Jed would 
demand of you.” 

“And that, Turan the slave, is what I shall bend 
my every effort to accomplish after I have found 
a safe refuge for Tara of Helium and her panthan,” 
replied Tasor. 

Gahan’s glance carried to Tasor an intimation 
of his Jed’s gratification and filled him with a 
chivalrous determination to do the thing required of 


'A TASK FOR LOYALTY 


305 


him, or die, for he considered that he had received 
from the lips of his beloved ruler a commission that 
placed upon his shoulders a responsibility that en- 
compassed not alone the life of Gahan and Tara 
but the welfare, perhaps the whole future, of Gathol. 
And so he hastened them onward through the musty 
corridors of the old palace where the dust of ages 
lay undisturbed upon the marble tiles. Now and 
again he tried a door until he found one that was 
unlocked. Opening it he ushered them into a cham- 
ber, heavy with dust. Crumbling silks and furs 
adorned the walls, with ancient weapons, and great 
paintings whose colors were toned by age to won- 
drous softness. 

“This be as good as any place,’’ he said. “No 
one comes here. Never have I been here before, 
so I know no more of the other chambers than 
you ; but this one, at least, can I find again when I 
bring you food and drink. 0-Mai the Cruel occu- 
pied this portion of the palace during his reign, 
five thousand years before O-Tar. In one of these 
apartments he was found dead, his face contorted 
in an expression of fear so horrible that it drove 
to madness those who looked upon it ; yet there was 
no mark of violence upon him. Since then the 
quarters of O-Mai have been shunned for the legends 
have it that the ghosts of Corphals pursue the spirit 
of the wicked Jeddak nightly through these cham- 
bers, shrieking and moaning as they go. But,” he 


S 304 the chessmen OF MARS 


added, as though to reassure himself as well as his 
companions, “ such things may not be countenanced 
by the culture of Gathol or Helium/' 

Gahan laughed. ‘‘And if all who looked upon 
him were driven mad, who then was there to per- 
form the last rites or prepare the body of the Jeddak 
for them?” 

“There was none,” replied Tasor. “Where they 
found him they left him and there to this very day 
his mouldering bones lie hid in some forgotten cham- 
ber of this forbidden suite.” 

Tasor left them then assuring them that he would 
seek the first opportunity to speak with A-Kor, and 
upon the following day he would bring them food 
and drink.^ 

After Tasor had gone Tara turned to Gahan 
and approaching laid a hand upon his arm. “ So 
swiftly have events transpired since I recognized 
you beneath your disguise,” she said, “that I have 
had no opportunity to assure you of my gratitude 
and the high esteem that your valor has won for 
you in my consideration. Let me now acknowledge 
my indebtedness; and if promises be not vain from 
one whose life and liberty are in grave jeopardy, 
accept my assurance of the great reward that awaits 
you at the hand of my father in Helium.” 

1 Those who have read John Carter’s description of the Green Martians 
in A Princess of Mars will recall that these strange people could exist 
for considerable periods of time without food or water, and to a lesser 
degree is the same true of all Martians. 


"A TASK FOR LOYALTY 


305 


“I desire no reward/^ he replied, ‘‘other than 
the happiness of knowing that the woman I love 
is happy.” 

For an instant the eyes of Tara of Helium blazed 
as she drew herself haughtily to her full height, 
and then they softened and her attitude relaxed as 
she shook her head sadly. 

“I have it not in my heart to reprimand you, 
Turan,” she said, “however great your fault, for 
you have been an honorable and a loyal friend to 
Tara of Helium; but you must not say what my 
“^ears must not hear.” 

“ You mean,” he asked, “ that the ears of a Prin- 
cess must not listen to words of love from a 
pan than ? ” 

“It is not that, Turan,” she replied; “but rather 
that I may not in honor listen to words of love from 
another than him to whom I am betrothed — a fel- 
low countryman, Djor Kantos.” 

“You mean, Tara of Helium,” he cried, “that 
were it not for that you would ” 

“Stop!” she commanded. “You have no right 
to assume aught else than my lips testify.” 

“The eyes are ofttimes more eloquent than the 
lips, Tara,” he replied; “and in yours I have read 
that which is neither hatred nor contempt for Turan 
the panthan, and my heart tells me that your lips 
bore false witness when they cried in anger : ‘ I hate 
you!’” 


■So6 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


do not hate you, Turan, nor yet may I love 
you,’’ said the girl, simply. 

‘'When I broke my way out from the chamber 
of I-Gos I was indeed upon the verge of believing 
that you did hate me,” he said, “for only hatred, 
it seemed to me, could account for the fact that 
you had gone without making an effort to liberate 
me; but presently both my heart and my judgment 
told me that Tara of Helium could not have de- 
serted a companion in distress, and though I still 
am in ignorance of the facts I know that it was 
beyond your power to aid me.” 

“ It was indeed,” said the girl. “ Scarce had 
I-Gos fallen at the bite of my dagger than I heard 
the approach of warriors. I ran then to hide until 
they had passed, thinking to return and liberate you ; 
but in seeking to elude the party I had heard I ran 
full into the arms of another. They questioned 
me as to your whereabouts, and I told them that 
you had gone ahead and that I was following you 
and thus I led them from you.” 

“I knew,” was Gahan’s only comment, but his 
heart was glad with elation, as a lover’s must be 
who has heard from the lips of his divinity an 
avowal of interest and loyalty, however little tinged 
by a suggestion of warmer regard it may be. To 
be abused, even, by the mistress of one’s heart is 
better than to be ignored. 

As the two conversed in the ill-lit chamber, the 


A TASK FOR LOYALTY 


307 


dim bulbs of which were encrusted with the accu- 
mulated dust of centuries, a bent and withered figure 
traversed slowly the gloomy corridors without, his 
weak and watery eyes peering through thick lenses 
at the signs of passage written upon the dusty 
floor. 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE MENACE OE THE DEAD 
HE night was still young when there came 



X one to the entrance of the banquet hall where 

0- Tar of Manator dined with his chiefs, and brush- 
ing past the guards entered the great room with 
the insolence of a privileged character, as in truth 
he was. As he approached the head of the long 
board O-Tar took notice of him. 

“Well, hoary one!’* he cried. “What brings 
you out of your beloved and stinking burrow again 
this day. We thought that the sight of the multi- 
tude of living men at the games would drive you 
back to your corpses as quickly as you could go.” 

The cackling laugh of I-Gos acknowledged the 
royal sally. “Ey, ey, O-Tar,” squeaked the ancient 
one, “ I-Gos goes out not upon pleasure bound ; but 
when one does ruthlessly desecrate the dead of 

1- Gos, vengeance must be had ! ” 

“You refer to the act of the slave Turan?” de- 
manded O-Tar. 

“Turan, yes, and the slave Tar^, who slipped 
beneath my hide a murderous blade. Another frac- 
tion of an inch, O-Tar, and I-Gos’ ancient and 
wrinkled covering were even now in some apprentice 
tanner’s hands, ey, ey!” 


THE MENACE OF THE DEAD 309 


‘‘But they have again eluded us,” cried 0 -Tar. 
“Even in the palace of the great jeddak twice have 
they escaped the stupid knaves I call The Jeddak’s 
Guard.” O-Tar had risen and was angrily empha- 
sizing his words with heavy blows upon the table^ 
dealt with a golden goblet. 

“Ey, O-Tar, they elude thy guard but not the 
wise old calot, I-Gos.” 

“What mean you? Speak!” commanded O-Tar. 

“I know where they are hid,” said the ancient 
taxidermist. “ In the dust of unused corridors their 
feet have betrayed them.” 

“You followed them? You have seen them?” 
demanded the jeddak. 

“I followed them and I heard them speaking 
beyond a closed door,” replied I-Gos; “but I did 
not see them.” 

“Where is that door?” cried O-Tar. “We will 
send at once and fetch them,” he looked about the 
table as though to decide to whom he would entrust 
this duty. A dozen warrior chiefs arose and laid 
their hands upon their swords. 

“To the chambers of O-Mai the Cruel I traced 
them,” squeaked I-Gos. “ There you will find them 
where the moaning Corphals pursue the shrieking 
ghost of O-Mai ; ey ! ” and he turned his eyes from 
O-Tar toward the warriors who had arisen, only 
to discover that, to a man, they were hurriedh 
resuming their seats. 


gio THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


The cackling laughter of I-Gos broke derisively 
the hush that had fallen on the room. The war- 
riors looked sheepishly at the food upon their plates 
of gold. O-Tar snapped his fingers impatiently. 

“ Be there only cravens among the chiefs of Man- 
ator?’' he cried. ‘‘Repeatedly have these pre- 
sumptuous slaves flouted the majesty of your jed- 
dak. Must I command one to go and fetch them ? 

Slowly a chief arose and two others followed his 
example, though with ill concealed reluctance. “All, 
then, are not cov’"^ “ds.’^ commented O-Tar. “The 

■ ■ p - • ■■ 

duty is distastefu ^refqre all three of you shall 

1 • • 1 M 

go, taking as m ^lors as you wish. 

“But do not ^^plunteers,” interrupted 
I-Gos, “ or you will go 

The three chiefs turnea^md left the banquet hall, 
walking slowly like doomed men to their fate. 

Gahan and Tara remained in the chamber to 
which Tasor had led them, the man brushing away 
the dust from a deep and comfortable bench where 
they might rest in comparative comfort. He had 
found the ancient sleeping silks and furs too far 
gone to be of any service, crumbling to powder at a 
touch, thus removing any chance of making a com- 
fortable bed for the girl, and so the two sat to- 
gether, talking in low tones, of the adventures 
through which they already had passed and specu- 
lating upon the future; planning means of escape 


THE MENACE OF THE DEAD 311 


and hoping Tasor would not be long gone. They 
spoke of many things — of Hastor, and Helium, and 
Ptarth, and finally the conversation reminded Tara 
of Gathol. 

‘‘You have served there?’’ she asked. 

“Yes,” replied Turan. 

“I met Gahan the Jed of Gathol at my father’s 
palace,” she said, “the very day before the storm 
snatched me from Helium — he was a presumptuous 
fellow, magnificently trapped in nlatirium and dia- 
monds. Never in my life sav gorgeous a har- 
ness as his, and you ^ ' '^w, Turan, that 

the splendor of all i.joy trough the court 

at Helium; ^ ^ald not see so re- 

splend<" xx.g that jeweled sword 

^ ' . me that the Jed of Gathol, 

t.4 cuy picture of a man, is little else.” 

Ill die dim light Tara did not perceive the wry 
expression upon the half -averted face of her com- 
panion. 

“You thought little then of the Jed of Gathol?” 
he asked. 

“Then or now,” she replied, and with a little 
laugh; “how it would pique his vanity to know, if 
he might, that a poor panthan had won a higher 
place in the regard of Tara of Helium,” and she 
laid her fingers gently upon his knee. 

He seized the fingers in his and carried them to 
his lips. “ O, Tara of Helium,” he cried. “ Think 


512 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


you that I am a man of stone?” One arm slipped 
about her shoulders and drew the yielding body 
toward him. 

‘‘May my first ancestor forgive me my weak- 
ness,” she cried, as her arms stole about his neck 
and she raised her panting lips to his. For long 
they clung there in love’s first kiss and then she 
pushed him away, gently. “I love you, Turan,” 
she half sobbed; “I love you so! It is my only 
poor excuse for having done this wrong to Djor 
Kantos, whom now I know I never loved, who 
knew not the meaning of love. And if you love 
me as you say, Turan, your love must protect me 
from greater dishonor, ^ ' but as clay in 

your hands.” 

Again he crushed her to him ct c '^id- 

denly released her, and rising, strode rapia.^' 
and fro across the chamber as though he endeavored 
by violent exercise to master and subdue some evil 
spirit that had laid hold upon him. Ringing 
through his brain and heart and soul like some 
joyous paeon were those words that had so altered 
the world for Gahan of Gathol: “I love you, 
Turan; I love you so!” And it had come so sud- 
denly. He had thought that she felt for him only 
gratitude for his loyalty and then, in an instant, 
her barriers were all down, she was no longer a 
princess; but instead a — his reflections were inter- 
rupted by a sound from beyond the closed doon 


THE MENACE OF THE DEAD 


His sandals of zitidar hide had given forth no 
sound upon the marble floor he strode, and as his 
rapid pacing carried him past the entrance to the 
chamber there came faintly from the distance of 
the long corridor the sound of metal on metal — the 
unmistakable herald of the approach of armed men. 

For a moment Gahan listened intently, close to 
the door, until there could be no doubt but that a 
party of warriors was approaching. From what 
Tasor had told him he guessed correctly that they 
would be coming to this portion of the palace but 
for a single purpose — to search for Tara and him- 
self — and it behooved him therefore to seek im- 
mediate means for eluding them. The chamber in 
which they were had other doorways beside that 
at which they had entered, and to one of these he 
must look for some safer hiding place. Crossing 
to Tara he acquainted her with his suspicion, lead- 
ing her to one of the doors which they found unse- 
cured. Beyond it lay a dimly-lighted chamber at 
the threshold of which they halted in consternation, 
drawing back quickly into the chamber they had 
just quitted, for their first glance revealed four 
'warriors seated around a jetan board. 

That their entrance had not been noted was at- 
tributed by Gahan to the absorption of the two play- 
ers and their friends in the game. Quietly closing 
the door the fugitives moved silently to the next, 
which they found locked. There was now but an- 


t^i4 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


other door which they had not tried, and this they 
approached quickly as they knew that the searching 
party must be close to the chamber. To their 
chagrin they found this avenue of escape barred. 

Now indeed were they in a sorry plight, for 
should the searchers have information leading them 
to this room they were lost. Again leading Tara 
to the door behind which were the jetan players 
Gahan drew his sword and waited, listening. The 
sound of the party in the corridor came distinctly 
to their ears — they must be quite close, and doubt- 
less they were coming in force. Beyond the door 
were but four warriors who might be readily sur- 
prised. There could, then, be but one choice and 
acting upon it Gahan quietly opened the door again, 
stepped through into the adjoining chamber, Tara’s 
hand in his, and closed the door behind them. The 
four at the jetan board evidently failed to hear 
them. One player had either just made or was con- 
templating a move, for his fingers grasped a piece 
that still rested upon the board. The other three 
were watching his move. For an instant Gahan 
looked at them, playing jetan there in the dim light 
of this forgotten and forbidden chamber, and then 
a slow smile of understanding lighted his face. 

“Come!” he said to Tara. “We have nothing 
to fear from these. For more than five thousand 
years they have sat thus, a monument to the handi- 
work of some ancient taxidermist.” 


THE MENACE OF THE DEAD gi5 


As they approached more closely they saw that 
the lifelike figures were coated with dust, but that 
otherwise the skin was in as fine a state of preserva- 
tion as the most recent of I-Gos^ groups, and then 
they heard the door of the chamber they had quitted 
open and knew that the searchers were close upon 
them. Across the room they saw the opening of 
what appeared to be a corridor and which investi- 
gation proved to be a short passageway, terminating 
in a chamber in the center of which was an ornate 
sleeping dais. This room, like the others, was but 
poorly lighted, time having dimmed the radiance 
of its bulbs and coated them with dust. A glance 
showed that it was hung with heavy goods and con- 
tained considerable massive furniture in addition to 
the sleeping platform, a second glance at which 
revealed what appeared to be the form of a man 
lying partially on the floor and partially on the 
dais. No doorways were visible other than that at 
which they had entered, though both knew that 
others might be concealed by the hangings. 

Gahan, his curiosity aroused by the legends sur- 
rounding this portion of the palace, crossed to the 
dais to examine the figure that apparently had fallen 
from it, to find the dried and shrivelled corpse of 
a man lying upon his back on the floor with arms 
outstretched and fingers stiffly outspread. One of 
his feet was doubled partially beneath him, while 
the other was still entangled in the sleeping silks 


Si6 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


and furs upon the dais. After five thousand years 
the expression of the withered face and the eyeless 
sockets retained the aspect of horrid fear to such 
an extent, that Gahan knew that he was looking 
upon the body of O-Mai the Cruel. 

Suddenly Tara, who stood close beside him, 
clutched his arm and pointed toward a far comer 
of the room. Gahan looked and looking felt the 
hairs upon his neck rising. He threw his left arm 
about the girl and with bared sword stood between 
her and the hangings that they watched, and then 
slowly Gahan of Gathol backed away, for in this 
grim and somber chamber, which no human foot 
had trod for five thousand years and to which no 
breath of wind might enter, the heavy hangings in 
fhe far corner had moved. Not gently had they 
moved as a draught might have moved them had 
there been a draught, but suddenly they had bulged 
out as though pushed against from behind. To the 
opposite corner backed Gahan until they stood with 
their backs against the hangings there, and then 
hearing the approach of their pursuers across the 
chamber beyond Gahan pushed Tara through the 
hangings and, following her, kept open with his 
left hand, which he had disengaged from the girl’s 
grasp, a tiny opening through which he could view 
the apartment and the doorway upon the opposite 
side through which the pursuers would enter, if 
they came this far. 


THE MENACE OF THE DEAD 317 


Behind the hangings there was a space of about 
three feet in width between them and the wall, mak- 
ing a passageway entirely around the room, broken 
only by the single entrance opposite them ; this being 
a common arrangement especially in the sleeping 
apartments of the rich and powerful upon Barsoom. 
The purposes of this arrangement were several. The 
passageway afforded a station for guards in the 
same room with their master without intruding en- 
tirely upon his privacy ; it concealed secret exits from 
the chamber ; it permitted the occupant of the room 
to hide eavesdroppers and assassins for use against 
enemies that he might lure to his chamber. 

The three chiefs with a dozen warriors had had 
no difficulty in following the tracks of the fugitives 
through the dust of the corridors and chambers they 
had traversed. To enter this portion of the palace 
at all had required all the courage they possessed, 
and now that they were within the very chambers 
of O-Mai their nerves were pitched to the highest 
key — another turn and they would snap; for the 
people of Manator are filled with weird superstitions. 
As they entered the outer chamber they moved 
slowly, with drawn swords, no one seeming anxious 
to take the lead, and the twelve warriors hanging 
back in unconcealed and shameless terror, while the 
three chiefs, spurred on by fear of 0-Tar and by 
pride, pressed together for mutual encouragement 
as they slowly crossed the dimly-lighted room. 


8i8 the chessmen OF MARS 


Following the tracks of Gahan and Tara they 
found that though each doorway had been ap- 
proached only one threshold had been crossed and 
this door they gingerly opened, revealing to their 
astonished gaze the four warriors at the jetan table. 
For a moment they were on the verge of flight, for 
though they knew what they were, coming as they 
did upon them in this mysterious and haunted suite, 
they were as startled as though they had beheld 
the very ghosts of the departed. But they presently 
regained their courage sufficiently to cross this 
chamber too and enter the short passageway that 
led to the ancient sleeping apartment of O-Mai the 
Cruel. They did not know that this awful cham- 
ber hy just before them, or it were doubtful that 
they would have proceeded farther; but they saw 
that those they sotfght had come this way and so 
they followed, but within the gloomy interior of 
the chamber they halted, the three chiefs urging 
their followers, in low whispers, to close in behind 
them, and there just within the entrance they stood 
until, their eyes becoming accustomed to the dim 
light, one of them pointed suddenly to the thing 
lying upon the floor with one foot tangled in the 
coverings of the dais. 

Look ! ” he gasped. “ It is the corpse of O-Mai ! 
Ancestor of ancestors! we are in the forbidden 
chamber.” Simultaneously there came from behind 
the hangings beyond the grewsome dead a hollow 


THE MENACE OF THE DEAD 319 


moan followed by a piercing scream, and the hang- 
ings shook and bellied before their eyes. 

With one accord, chieftains and warriors, they 
turned and bolted for the doorway; a narrow door- 
way, where they jammed, fighting and screaming 
in an effort to escape. They threw away their 
swords and clawed at one another to make a pas- 
sage for escape; those behind climbed upon the 
shoulders of those in front; and some fell and were 
trampled upon; but at last they all got through, 
and, the swiftest first, they bolted across the two 
intervening chambers to the outer corridor beyond, 
nor did they halt their mad retreat before they 
stumbled, weak and trembling, into the banquet hall 
of 0-Tar. At sight of them the warriors who had 
remained with the jeddak leaped to their feet with 
drawn swords, thinking that their fellows were pur- 
sued by many enemies; but no one followed them 
into the room, and the three chieftains came and 
stood before 0-Tar with bowed heads and trembling 
knees. 

‘‘Well?” demanded the jeddak. “What ails 
you ? Speak ! ” 

“0-Tar,” cried one of them when at last he 
could master his voice. “ When have we three failed 
you in battle or combat? Have our swords been 
not always among the foremost in defense of your 
safety and your honor?” 

“Have I denied this?” demanded 0-Tar. 


g20 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Listen then, O Jeddak, and judge us with 
leniency. We followed the two slaves to the apart- 
ments of 0-Mai the Cruel. We entered the ac- 
cursed chambers and still we did not falter. We 
came at last to that horrid chamber no human eye 
had scanned before in fifty centuries and we looked 
upon the dead face of 0-Mai, lying as he has lain 
for all this time. To the very death chamber of 
O-Mai the Cruel we came and yet we were ready 
to go farther; when suddenly there broke upon our 
horrified ears the moans and the shrieking that mark 
these haunted chambers and the hangings moved 
and rustled in the dead air. 0-Tar, it was more 
than human nerves could endure. We turned and 
fled. We threw away our swords and fought with 
one another to escape. With sorrow, but without 
shame, I tell it, for there be no man in all Manator 
that would not have done the same. If these slaves 
be Corphals they are safe among their fellow 
ghosts. If they be not Corphals, then already are 
they dead in the chambers of O-Mai, and there 
may they rot for all of me, for I would not return 
to that accursed spot for the harness of a jeddak 
and the half of Barsoom for an empire. I have 
spoken.” 

0-Tar knitted his scowling brows. Are all my 
chieftains cowards and cravens?” he demanded 
presently in sneering tones. 

From among those who had not been of the 


THE MENACE OF THE DEAD ^2t 


searching party a chieftain arose and turned ai 
scowling face upon O-Tar. 

“ The jeddak knows,” he said, ‘‘ that in the annals 
of Manator her jeddaks have ever been accounted 
the bravest of her warriors. Where my jeddak 
leads I will follow, nor may any jeddak call me a 
coward or a craven unless I refuse to go where he 
dares go. I have spoken.” 

After he had resumed his seat there was a pain- 
ful silence, for all knew that the speaker had chal- 
lenged the courage of O-Tar the Jeddak of 
Manator and all awaited the reply of their ruler. In 
every mind was the same thought — O-Tar must 
lead them at once to the chamber of O-Mai the 
Cruel, or accept forever the stigma of cowardice, 
and there could be no coward upon the throne of 
Manator. That they all knew and that O-Tar knew, 
as well. 

But O-Tar hesitated. He looked about upon the 
faces of those around him at the banquet board; 
but he saw only the grim visages of relentless war- 
riors. There was no trace of leniency in the face 
of any. And then his eye wandered to a small 
entrance at one side of the great chamber. An ex- 
pression of relief expunged the scowl of anxiety 
from his features. 

*^Look!” he exclaimed. ‘‘See who has come!** 


CHAPTER XX 


THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE 

G AHAN, watching through the aperture be- 
tween the hangings, saw the frantic flight 
of their pursuers. A grim smile rested upon his 
lips as he viewed the mad scramble for safety and 
saw them throw away their swords and fight with 
one another to be first from the chamber of fear, 
and when they were all gone he turned back toward 
Tara, the smile still upon his lips; but the smile 
died the instant that he turned, for he saw that 
Tara had disappeared. 

‘‘Tara!’’ he called in a loud voice, for he knew 
that there was no danger that their pursuers would 
return; but there was no response, unless it was 
a faint sound as of cackling laughter from afar. 
Hurriedly he searched the passageway behind the 
hangings finding several doors, one of which was 
ajar. Through this he entered the adjoining cham- 
ber which was lighted more brilliantly for the 
moment by the soft rays of hurtling Thuria tak- 
ing her mad way through the heavens. Here he 
found the dust upon the floor disturbed, and the 
imprint of sandals. They had come this way — 
Tara and whatever the creature was that had stolen 
her. 


322 


THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE 323 


But what could it have been? Gahan, a man of 
culture and high intelligence, held few if any super- 
stitions. In common with nearly all races of Bar- 
soom he clung, more or less inherently, to a certain 
exalted form of ancestor worship, though it was 
rather the memory or legends of the virtues and, 
heroic deeds of his forebears that he deified rather 
than themselves. He never expected any tangible 
evidence of their existence after death; he did not 
believe that they had the power either for good or 
for evil other than the effect that their example 
while living might have had upon following gen- 
erations; he did not believe therefore in the mate- 
rialization of dead spirits. If there was a life 
hereafter he knew nothing of it, for he knew that 
science had demonstrated the existence of some 
material cause for every seemingly supernatural 
phenomenon of ancient religions and superstitions. 
Yet he was at a loss to know what power might 
have removed Tara so suddenly and mysteriously 
from his side in a chamber that had not known 
the presence of man for five thousand years. 

In the darkness he could not see whether there 
were the imprints of other sandals than Tara's — 
only that the dust was disturbed — and when it 
led him into gloomy corridors he lost the trail alto- 
gether. A perfect labyrinth of passages and apart- 
ments were now revealed to him as he hurried on 
through the deserted quarters of 0 -Mai. Here was 


324 the chessmen OF MARS 

T 

an ancient bath — doubtless that of the jeddak him- 
self, and again he passed through a room in which 
a meal had been laid upon a table five thousand 
years before — the untasted breakfast of O-Mai, 
perhaps. There passed before his eyes in the brief 
moments that he traversed the chambers, a wealth 
of ornaments and jewels and precious metals that 
surprised even the Jed of Gathol whose harness was 
of diamonds and platinum and whose riches were 
the envy of a world. But at last his search of 
O-Mai’s chambers ended in a small closet in the 
floor of which was the opening to a spiral run- 
way leading straight down into Stygian darkness. 
The dust at the entrance of the closet had been 
freshly disturbed, and as this was the only possible 
indication that Gahan had of the direction taken 
by the abductor of Tara it seemed as well to fol- 
low on as to search elsewhere. So, without hesi- 
tation, he descended into the utter darkness below. 
Feeling with a foot before taking a forward step 
his descent was necessarily slow, but Gahan was a 
Barsoomian and so knew the pitfalls that might 
await the unwary in such dark, forbidden portions 
of a jeddak's palace. 

He had descended for what he judged might be 
three full levels and was pausing, as he occasionally 
did, to listen, when he distinctly heard a peculiar 
shuffling, scraping sound approaching him from 
below. Whatever the thing was it was ascending 


THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE ^325 


the runway at a steady pace and would soon be 
near him. Gahan laid his hand upon the hilt of 
his sword and drew it slowly from its scabbard 
that he might make no noise that would appraise 
the creature of his presence. He wished that there 
might be even the slightest lessening of the dark- 
ness. If he could see but the outline of the thing 
that approached him he would feel that he had a' 
fairer chance in the meeting; but he could see noth- 
ing, and then because he could see nothing the end 
of his scabbard struck the stone side of the run- 
way, giving off a sound that the stillness and the 
narrow confines of the passage and the darkness 
seemed to magnify to a terrific clatter. 

Instantly the shuffling sound of approach ceased. 
For a moment Gahan stood in silent waiting, then 
casting aside discretion he moved on again down 
the spiral. The thing, whatever it might be, gave 
forth no sound now by which Gahan might locate 
it. At any moment it might be upon him and so 
he kept his sword in readiness. Down, ever down- 
ward the steep spiral led. The darkness and the 
silence of the tomb surrounded him, yet somewhere 
ahead was something. He was not alone in that 
horrid place — another presence that he could not 
hear or see hovered before him — of that he was 
positive. Perhaps it was the thing that had stolen 
Tara. Perhaps Tara herself, still in the clutches 
of some nameless horror, was just ahead of hinu. 


.326 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


He quickened his pace — it became almost a run 
at the thought of the danger that threatened the 
woman he loved, and then he collided with a wooden 
■ door that swung open to the impact. Before him 
was a lighted corridor. On either side were cham- 
bers. He had advanced but a short distance from 
the bottom of the spiral when he recognized that 
he was in the pits below the palace. A moment 
later he heard behind him the shuffling sound that 
had attracted his attention in the spiral runway. 
Wheeling about he saw the author of the sound 
emerging from a doorway he had just passed. It 
was Ghek the kaldane. 

“ Ghek ! ’’ exclaimed Gahan. “ It was you in the 
runway? Have you seen Tara of Helium?’^ 

“It was I in the spiral,” replied the kaldane; 
“but I have not seen Tara of Helium. I have been 
searching for her. Where is she?” 

“I do not know,” replied the Gatholian; “but 
’we must find her and take her from this place.” 

“We may find her,” said Ghek; “but I doubt 
our ability to take her away. It is not so easy to 
leave Manator as it is to enter it. I may come 
and go at will, through the ancient burrows of the 
ulsios; but you are too large for that and your 
lungs need more air than may be found in some 
of the deeper runways.” 

“But U-Thor!” exclaimed Gahan. “Have you 
iheard aught of him or his intentions?” 


THE CHARGE OF. COWARDICE 327 


** I have heard much,” replied Ghek. “ He camps 
at The Gate of Enemies. That spot he holds and 
his warriors lie just beyond The Gate; but he has 
not sufficient force to enter the city and take the 
palace. An hour since and you might have made 
your way to him ; but now every avenue is strongly 
guarded since O-Tar learned that A-Kor had 
escaped to U-Thor.” 

‘‘A-Kor has escaped and joined U-Thor!” ex- 
claimed Gahan. 

But little more than an hour since. I was with 
him when a warrior came — a man whose name is 
Tasor — who brought a message from you. It was 
decided that Tasor should accompany A-Kor in an 
attempt to reach the camp of U-Thor, the great jed 
of Manatos, and exact from him the assurances 
you required. Then U-Thor was to return and 
take food to you and the Princess of Helium. I 
accompanied them. We won through easily and 
found U-Thor more than willing to respect your 
every wish, but when Tasor would have returned 
to you the way was blocked by the warriors of 
O-Tar. Then it was that I volunteered to -come 
to you and report and find food and drink and 
then go forth among the Gatholian slaves of Man- 
ator and prepare them for their part in the plan 
that U-Thor and Tasor conceived.” 

*‘And what was this plan?” 

U-Thor has sent for reinforcements. To Man- 


328 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


atos he has sent and to all the outlying districts 
that are his. It will take a month to collect and 
bring them hither and in the meantime the slaves 
within the city are to organize secretly, stealing 
and hiding arms against the day that the reinforce- 
ments arrive. When that day comes the forces of 
U-Thor will enter The Gate of Enemies and as the 
warriors of O-Tar rush to repulse them the slaves 
from Gathol will fall upon them from the rear with 
the majority of their numbers, while the balance will 
assault the palace. They hope thus to divert so 
many from The Gate that U-Thor will have little 
difficulty in forcing an entrance to the city.’’ 

'‘Perhaps they will succeed,” commented Gahan; 
^'but the warriors of O-Tar are many, and those 
who fight in defense of their homes and their jed- 
dak have always an advantage. Ah, Ghek, would 
that we had the great warships of Gathol or of 
Helium to pour their merciless fire into the streets 
of Manator while U-Thor marched to the palace 
over the corpses of the slain.” He paused, deep 
in thought, and then turned his gaze again upon 
the kaldane. "Heard you aught of the party that 
escaped with me from The Field of Jetan — of 
Floran, Val Dor, and the others? What of them?” 

“Ten of these won through to U-Thor at The 
Gate of Enemies and were well received by him. 
Eight fell in the fighting upon the way. Val Dor 
and Floran live, I believe, for I am sure that I 


THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE 329 


heard U-Thor address two warriors by these 
names/’ 

“ Good ! ” exclaimed Gahan. “ Go then, through 
the burrows of the ulsios, to The Gate of Enemies 
and carry to Floran the message that I shall write 
in his own language. Come, while I write the 
message.” 

In a nearby room they found a bench and table 
and there Gahan sat and wrote in the strange,, 
stenographic characters of Martian script a mes- 
sage to Floran of Gathol. “Why,” he asked, when 
he had finished it, “ did you search for Tara through 
the spiral runway where we nearly met ? ” 

“Tasor told me where you were to be found,, 
and as I have explored the greater part of the 
palace by means of the ulsio runways and the darker 
and less frequented passages I knew precisely where 
you were and how to reach you. This secret spiral 
ascends from the pits to the roof of the loftiest of 
the palace towers. It has secret openings at every 
level; but there is no living Manatorian, I believe, 
who knows of its existence. At least never have 
I met one within it and I have used it many times. 
Thrice have I been in the chamber where 0 -Mai 
lies, though I knew nothing of his identity or the 
story of his death until Tasor told it to us in the 
camp of U-Thor.” 

“You know the palace thoroughly then?” Gahan 
interrupted. 


330 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“ Better than 0-Tar himself or any of his serv- 
ants.” 

‘‘ Good ! And you would serve the Princess Tara, 
Ghek, you may serve her best by accompanying 
Floran and following his instructions. I will write 
them here at the close of my message to him, for 
the walls have ears, Ghek, while none but a 
Gatholian may read what I have writ to Floran. 
He will transmit it to you. Can I trust you?” 

I may never return to Bantoom,” replied Ghek. 

Therefore I have but two friends in all Barsoom. 
What better may I do than serve them faithfully? 
You may trust me, Gatholian, who with a woman 
of your kind has taught me that there be finer 
and nobler things than perfect mentality unin- 
fluenced by the unreasoning tuitions of the heart. 
I go.” 

As 0-Tar pointed to the little doorway all eyes 
turned in the direction he indicated and surprise 
was writ large upon the faces of the warriors when 
they recognized the two who had entered the ban- 
quet hall. There was I-Gos, and he dragged be- 
hind him one who was gagged and whose hands 
were fastened behind with a ribbon of tough silk. 
It was Tara the slave girl. I-Gos’ cackling laughter 
rose above the silence of the room. 

*‘Ey, ey!” he shrilled. ‘‘What the young war- 
riors of 0-Tar cannot do, old I-Gos does alone.'^ 


THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE 331 


‘‘Only a Corphal may capture a Corphal/" 
growled one of the chiefs who had fled from the 
chambers of O-Mai. 

I"Gos laughed. “Terror turned your heart to 
water,” he replied; “and shame your tongue to 
libel. This be no Corphal, but only a woman of 
Helium; her companion a warrior who can match 
blades with the best of you and cut out your putrid 
hearts. Not so in the days of I-Gos' youth. Ah, 
then were there men in Manator. Well do I recall 
that day that I ” 

“Peace, doddering fool!” commanded 0 -Tar. 
“Where is the man?” 

“Where I found the woman — in the death 
chamber of O-Mai. Let your wise and brave 
chieftains go thither and fetch him. I am an old 
man, and could bring but one.” 

“You have done well, I-Gos,” 0 -Tar hastened 
to assure him, for when he learned that Gahan 
might still be in the haunted chambers he wished 
to appease the wrath of I-Gos, knowing well the 
vitriolic tongue and temper of the ancient one. 
“You think she is no Corphal, then, I-Gos?” he 
asked, wishing to carry the subject from the man 
who was still at large. 

“No more than you,” replied the ancient tax- 
idermist. 

O-Tar looked long and searchingly at Tara of 
Helium. All the beauty that was hers seemed sud- 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


tienly to be carried to every fibre of his conscious- 
ness. She was still garbed in the rich harness of 
a Black Princess of Jetan, and as O-Tar the Jeddak 
gazed upon her he realized that never before had 
his eyes rested upon a more perfect figure — a more 
beautiful face. 

‘‘ She is no Corphal,” he murmured to himself. 
‘‘ She is no Corphal and she is a princess — a prin- 
cess of Helium, and, by the golden hair of the 
Holy Hekkador, she is beautiful. Take the gag 
from her mouth and release her hands,'* he com- 
manded aloud. ‘‘ Make room for the Princess Tara 
of Helium at the side of O-Tar of Manator. She 
shall dine as becomes a princess.” 

Slaves did as O-Tar bid and Tara of Helium 
stood with flashing eyes behind the chair that was 
offered her. “Sit!” commanded O-Tar. 

The girl sank into the chair. “I sit as a pris- 
oner,” she said; “not as a guest at the board of 
my enemy, O-Tar of Manator.” 

O-Tar motioned his followers from the room. 

I would speak alone with the Princess of Helium,” 
he said. The company and the slaves withdrew 
and once more the Jeddak of Manator turned 
toward the girl. “O-Tar of Manator would be 
your friend,” he said. 

Tara of Helium sat with arms folded upon her 
small, firm breasts, her eyes flashing from behind 
narrowed lids, nor did she deign to answer his 


THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE 333- 


overture. 0 -Tar leaned closer to her. He noted 
the hostility of her bearing and he recalled his first 
encounter with her. She was a she-banth, but she 
was beautiful. She was by far the most desirable 
woman that O-Tar had ever looked upon and he 
was determined to possess her. He told her so. 

“ I could take you as my slave,” he said to her ; 
‘‘but it pleases me to make you my wife. You 
shall be Jeddara of Manator. You shall have 
seven days in which to prepare for the great honor 
that O-Tar is conferring upon you, and at this hour 
of the seventh day you shall become an empress 
and the wife of O-Tar in the throne room of the 
jeddaks of Manator.” He struck a gong that stood 
beside him upon the table and when a slave ap- 
peared he bade him recall the company. Slowly 
the chiefs filed in and took their places at the table. 
Their faces were grim and scowling, for there was 
still unanswered the question of their jeddak’s 
courage. If O-Tar had hoped they would forget 
he had been mistaken in his men. 

O-Tar arose. “In seven days,” he announced, 
“there will be a great feast in honor of the new 
Jeddara of Manator,” and he waved his hand toward 
Tara of Helium. “ The ceremony will occur at the 
beginning of the seventh zode‘ in the throne room. 
In the meantime the Princess of Helium will be 
cared for in the tower of the women’s quarters of 


lAbout 8:30 P. M. Earth time. 


834 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


the palace. Conduct her thither, E-Thas, with a 
suitable guard of honor and see to it that slaves 
and eunuchs be placed at her disposal, who shall 
attend upon all her wants and guard her carefully 
from harm.” 

Now E-Thas knew that the real meaning con- 
cealed in these fine words was that he should con- 
duct the prisoner under a strong guard to the 
women’s quarters and confine her there in the tower 
for seven days, placing about her trustworthy guards 
who would prevent her escape or frustrate any at- 
tempted rescue. 

As Tara was departing from the chamber with 
E-Thas and the guard, O-Tar leaned close to her 
ear and whispered: ‘‘Consider well during these 
seven days the high honor I have offered you, and 
— its sole alternative.” As though she had not 
heard him the girl passed out of the banquet hall, 
her head high and her eyes straight to the front. 

After Ghek had left him Gahan roamed the pits 
and the ancient corridors of the deserted portions of 
the palace seeking some clue to the whereabouts or 
the fate of Tara of Helium. He utilized the spiral 
runway in passing from level to level until he knew 
every foot of it from the pits to the summit of the 
high tower, and into what apartments it opened at 
the various levels as well as the ingenious and hidden 
mechanism that operated the locks of the cleverly 


THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE 335 


concealed doors leading to it For food he drew 
upon the stores he found in the pits and when he 
slept he lay upon the royal couch of O-Mai in the 
forbidden chamber, sharing the dais with the dead 
foot of the ancient jeddak. 

In the palace about him seethed, all unknown to 
Gahan, a vast unrest. Warriors and chieftains pur- 
sued the duties of their vocations with dour faces, 
and little knots of them were collecting here and 
there and with frowns of anger discussing some 
subject that was uppermost in the minds of all. It 
was upon the fourth day following Tara’s incarcera- 
tion in the tower that E-Thas, the major-domo of 
the palace and one of O-Tar’s creatures, came to 
his master upon some trivial errand. O-Tar was 
alone in one of the smaller chambers of his per- 
sonal suite when the major-domo was announced, 
and after the matter upon which E-Thas had come 
was disposed of the jeddak signed him to remain. 

‘‘From the position of an obscure warrior I 
have elevated you, E-Thas, to the honors of a chief. 
Within the confines of the palace your word is 
second only to mine. You are not loved for this, 
E-Thas, and should another jeddak ascend the 
throne of Manator what would become of you, 
whose enemies are among the most powerful of 
Manator?” 

“ Speak not of it, O-Tar,” begged E-Thas. 
"These last few days I have thought upon it much 


B 36 the chessmen OF MARS 


and I would forget it; but I have sought to appease 
the wrath of my worst enemies. I have been very 
kind and indulgent with them.’' 

‘‘ You, too, read the voiceless message in the air ? 
demanded the jeddak. 

E-Thas was palpably uneasy and he did not reply. 

‘‘ Why did you not come to me with your appre- 
hensions?” demanded O-Tar. ‘‘Be this loyalty?” 

“I feared, O mighty jeddak!” replied E-Thas. 
“I feared that you would not understand and that 
you would be angry.” 

“What know you? Speak the whole truth!”* 
commanded O-Tar. 

“ There is much unrest among the chieftains and 
the warriors,” replied E-Thas. “Even those who 
were your friends fear the power of those who speak 
against you.” 

“What say they?” growled the jeddak. 

“ They say that you are afraid to enter the apart- 
ments of O-Mai in search of the slave Turan — oh, 
do not be angry with me, Jeddak; it is but what 
they say that I repeat. I, your loyal E-Thas, believe 
no such foul slander.” 

“No, no; why should I fear?” demanded O-Tar. 
“We do not know that he is there. Did not my 
chiefs go thither and see nothing of him?” 

*‘But they say that you did not go,” pursued 
E-Thas, “ and that they will have none of a coward 
upon the throne of Manator.” 


THE CHARGE OF COWARDICE 337 


‘^‘They said that treason?” 0-Tar almost shouted 
They said that and more, gFeat jeddak,” 
answered the major-domo. “They said that not 
only did you fear to enter the chambers of 0-Mai, 
but that your feared the slave Turan, and they blame 
you for your treatment of A-Kor, whom they all 
believe to have been murdered at your command. 
They were fond of A-Kor and there are many 
now who say aloud that A-Kor would have made 
a wondrous jeddak.” 

“They dare?” screamed 0-Tar. “They dare 
suggest the name of a slave's bastard for the throne 
of O-Tar!” 

“He is your son, O-Tar,” E-Thas reminded him, 
“nor is there a more beloved man in Manator — I 
but speak to you of facts which may not be ignored, 
and I dare do so because only when you realize the 
truth may you seek a cure for the ills that draw 
about your throne.” 

O-Tar had slumped down upon his bench — sud- 
denly he looked shrunken and tired and old. 
“Cursed be the day,” he cried, “that saw those 
three strangers enter the city of Manator. Would 
that U-Dor had been spared to me. He was 
strong — my enemies feared him; but he is gone — - 
dead at the hands of that hateful slave, Turan; may 
the curse of Issus be upon him ! ” 

“My jeddak, what shall we do? ” begged E-Thas. 
^‘Cursing the slave will not solve your problems,” 


338 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“But the great feast and the marriage is but 
three days off/’ plead O-Tar. “ It shall be a great 
gala occasion. The warriors and the chiefs all know 
that — it is the custom. Upon that day gifts and 
honors shall be bestowed. Tell me, who are most 
bitter against me? I will send you among them^ 
and let it be known that I am planning rewards for 
their past services to the throne. We will make 
jeds of chiefs and chiefs of warriors, and grant them 
palaces and slaves. Eh, E-Thas?” 

The other shook his head. “It will not do, 
O-Tar. They will have nothing of your gifts or 
honors. I have heard them say as much.” 

“What do they want?” demanded O-Tar. 

“They want a jeddak as brave as the bravest,” 
replied E-Thas, though his knees shook as he said it. 

“They think I am a coward?” cried the jeddak. 

“ They say you are afraid to go to the apartments 
of O-Mai the Cruel.” 

For a long time O-Tar sat, his head sunk upon 
his breast, staring blankly at the floor. 

“Tell them,” he said at last in a hollow voice 
that sounded not at all like the voice of a great 
jeddak; “tell them that I will go to the chambers 
of O-Mai and search for Turan the slave.” 


CHAPTER XXI 


A RISK FOR LOVE 

Y, EY, he is a craven and he called me ‘dod- 
dering fooP The speaker was I-Gos and 
he addressed a knot of chieftains in one of the 
chambers of the palace of O-Tar, Jeddak of Man- 
ator: ‘‘If A-Kor was alive there were a jeddak 
for us ! ’’ 

“ Who says that A-Kor is dead ? ’’ demanded one 
®f the chiefs. 

“Where is he then?’’ asked I-Gos. “Have not 
others disappeared whom O-Tar thought too well 
beloved for men so near the throne as they?” 

The chief shook his head. “And I thought that, 
or knew it, rather; I’d join U-Thor at The Gate of 
Enemies.” 

“S-s-st,” cautioned one; “here comes the licker 
of feet,” and all eyes were turned upon the ap- 
proaching E-Thas. 

“Kaor, friends!” he exclaimed as he stopped 
among them, but his friendly greeting elicited 
naught but a few surly nods. “ Have you heard the 
news?” he continued, unabashed by treatment to 
which he was becoming accustomed. 

“What — has O-Tar seen an ulsio and fainted?” 
demanded I-Gos with broad sarcasm. 


339 


340 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Men have died for less than that, ancient one,’* 
E-Thas reminded him. 

am safe,” retorted I-Gos, ‘‘for I am not a 
brave and popular son of the jeddak of Manator.” 

This was indeed open treason, but E-Thas feigned 
not to hear it. He ignored I-Gos and turned to the 
others. “ 0-Tar goes to the chamber of O-Mai this 
night in search of Turan the slave,” he said. “He 
sorrows that his warriors have not the courage for 
so mean a duty and that their jeddak is thus com- 
pelled to arrest a common slave,” with which taunt 
E-Thas passed on to spread the word in other parts 
of the palace. As a matter of fact the latter part 
of his message was purely original with himself, 
and he took great delight in delivering it to the dis- 
comfiture of his enemies. As he was leaving the 
little group of men I-Gos called after him. “At 
what hour does 0-Tar intend visiting the chambers 
of O-Mai?” he asked. 

“Toward the end of the eighth zodeV* replied 
the major-domo, and went his way. 

“ We shall see,” stated I-Gor 

“ What shall we see ? ” asked a warrior. 

“We shall see whether O-Tar visits the chamber 
of O-Mai.” 

“How?” 

“I shall be there myself and if I see him I will 
know that he has been there. If I don’t see him 


>About 1:00 A. M. Earth Time. 


^ RISK FOR LOVE 


341 


I will know that he has not,” explained the old 
taxidermist. 

‘‘Is there anything there to fill an honest man 
with fear?” asked a chieftain. “What have you 
seen? ” 

“It was not so much what I saw, though that 
was bad enough, as what I heard,” said I-Gos. 

“Tell us! What heard>and saw you? ” 

“ I saw the dead 0-Mai,” said I-Gos. The others 
shuddered. 

“And you went not mad ? ” they asked. 

“Am I mad ? ” retorted I-Gos. 

“And you will go again?” 

“Yes.” 

“ Then indeed you are mad,” cried one. 

“You saw the dead 0-Mai; but what heard you 
that was worse?” whispered another. 

“ I saw the dead 0-Mai lying upon the floor of his 
sleeping chamber with one foot tangled in the sleep- 
ing silks and furs upon his couch. I heard horrid 
moans and frightful screams.” 

“And you are not afraid to go there iagain?” 
demanded several. 

“ The dead cannot harm me,” said I-Gos. “ He 
has lain thus for five thousand years. Nor can a 
sound harm me. I heard it once and live — I can 
hear it again. It came from almost at my side where 
I hid behind the hangings and watched the slave 
Turan before I snatched the woman away from him.” 


342 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“ I-Gos, you are a very brave man/' said a chief- 
tain. 

‘"O-Tar called me ‘doddering fool' and I would 
face wor^e dangers than lie in the forbidden cham- 
bers of 0-Mai to know it if he does not visit the 
chamber of O-Mai. Then indeed shall O-Tar fall ! " 

The night came and the zodes dragged and the 
time approached when O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, 
was to visit the chamber of O-Mai in search of the 
slave Turan. To us, who may doubt the existence 
of malignant spirits, his fear may seem unbelievable, 
for he was a strong man, an excellent swordsman, 
and a warrior of great repute; but the fact re- 
mained that O-Tar of Manator was nervous with 
apprehension as he strode the corridors of his palace 
toward the deserted halls of O-Mai and when he 
stood at last with his hand upon the door that opened 
from the dusty corridor to the very apartments them- 
selves he was almost paralyzed with terror. He had 
come alone for two very excellent reasons, the first 
of which was that thus none might note his terror- 
stricken state nor his defection should he fail at the 
last moment, and the other was that should he ac- 
complish the thing alone or be able to make his 
chiefs believe that he had, the credit would be far 
greater than were he to be accompanied by warriors. 

But though he had started alone he had become 
aware that he was being followed, and he knew that 
it was because his people had no faith in either his 


A RISK FOR LOVE 


343 ? 


courage or his veracity. He did not believe that he 
would find the slave Turan. He did not very much 
want to find him, for though 0-Tar was an excellent 
swordsman and a brave warrior in physical combat, 
he had seen how Turan had played with U-Dor and 
he had no stomach for a passage at arms with one 
whom he knew outclassed him. 

And so 0-Tar stood with his hand upon the 
door — afraid to enter; afraid not to. But at last 
his fear of his own warriors, watching behind him, 
grew greater than the fear of the unknown behind 
the ancient door and he pushed the heavy skeel aside 
and entered. 

Silence and gloom and the dust of centuries lay 
heavy upon the chamber. From his warriors he 
knew the route that he must take to the horrid 
chamber of O-Mai and so he forced his unwilling 
feet across the room before him, across the room 
where the jetan players sat at their eternal game, 
and came to the short corridor that led into the 
room of O-Mai. His naked sword trembled in his 
grasp. He paused after each forward step to listen 
and when he was almost at the door of the ghost- 
haunted chamber, his heart stood still within his 
breast and the cold sweat broke from the clammy 
skin of his forehead, for from within there came to 
his affrighted ears the sound of muffled breathing. 
Then it was that 0-Tar of Manator came near to 
fleeing from the nameless horror that he could not 


344 


T HE CHESSMEN OF MARS 

see, but that he knew lay waiting for him in that 
chamber just ahead. But again came the fear of 
the wrath and contempt of his warriors and his 
chiefs. They would degrade him and they would 
slay him into the bargain. There was no doubt of 
what his fate would be should he flee the apartments 
of 0-Mai in terror. His only hope, therefore, lay 
in daring the unknown in preference to the known. 

He moved forward. A few steps took him to the 
doorway. The chamber before him was darker than 
the corridor, so that he could but indistinctly make 
out the objects in the room. He saw a sleeping 
dais near the center, with a darker blotch of some- 
thing lying on the marble floor beside it. He moved 
a step farther into the doorway and the scabbard 
of his sword scraped against the stone frame. To 
his horror he saw the sleeping silks and furs upon 
the central dais move. He saw a figure slowly aris- 
ing to a sitting posture from the death bed of 0-Mai 
the Cruel. His knees shook, but he gathered all 
his moral forces, and gripping his sword more 
tightly in his trembling fingers prepared to leap 
across the chamber upon the horrid apparition. He 
hesitated just a moment. He fett eyes upon him — 
ghoulish eyes that bored through the darkness into 
his withering heart — -eyes that he could not see. 
He gathered himself for the rush — and then there 
broke from the thing upon the couch an awful 
shriek, and 0-Tar sank senseless to the floor. 


A RISK FOR LOVE 


^45 


Gahan rose from the couch of O-Mai, smiling, 
only to swing quickly about with drawn sword as 
the shadow of a noise impinged upon his keen ears 
from the shadows behind him. Between the parted 
hangings he saw a bent and wrinkled figure. It was 
I-Gos. 

“ Sheathe your sword, Turan,” said the old man. 

You have naught to fear from I-Gos.” 

“ What do you here ? ” demanded Gahan. 

‘‘ I came to make sure that the great coward did 
not cheat us. Ey, and he called me ‘doddering 
fool but look at him now ! Stricken insensible by 
terror, but, ey, one might forgive him that who had 
heard your uncanny scream. It all but blasted my 
own courage. And it was you, then, who moaned 
and screamed when the chiefs came the day that I 
stole Tara from you? ” 

“It was you, then, old scoundrel?” demanded 
Gahan, moving threateningly toward I-Gos. 

“Come, come!” expostulated the old man; “it 
was I, but then I was your enemy. I would not 
do it now. Conditions have changed.” 

“How have they changed? What has changed 
them ? ” asked Gahan. 

“ Then I did not fully realize the cowardice of my 
jeddak, or the bravery of you and the girl. I am 
an old man from another age and I love courage. 
At first I resented the girfs attack upon me, but: 
later I came to see the bravery of it and if won 


346 rUE 'CHESSMEN OF MARS 


my admiration, as have all her acts. She feared not 
O-Tar, she feared not me, she feared not all the 
warriors of Manator. And you ! Blood of a million 
sires ! but how you fight ! I am sorry that I exposed 
you at The Fields of Jetan. I am sorry that I 
dragged the girl Tara back to O-Tar. I would make 
amends. I would be your friend. Here is my 
sword at your feet,” and drawing his weapon I-Gos 
cast it to the floor in front of Gahan. 

The Gatholian knew that scarce the most aban- 
doned of knaves would repudiate this solemn pledge, 
and so he stooped, and picking up the old man’s 
sword returned it to him, hilt first, in acceptance of 
his friendship. 

‘‘Where is the Princess Tara of Helium?” asked 
Gahan. “Is she safe?” 

“ She is confined in the tower of the women’s 
quarters awaiting the ceremony that is to make her 
Jeddara of Manator,” replied T-Gos. 

“This thing dared think that Tara of Heliurrt 
would mate with him?” growled Gahan. “I will 
make short work of him if he is not already dead 
from fright,” and he stepped toward the fallen 
O-Tar to run his sword through the jeddak’s heart. 

“ No ! ” cried I-Gos. “ Slay him not and pray that 
he be not dead if you would save your princess.” 

“How is that? ” asked Gahan. 

“If word of 0-Tar’s 'death reached the quarters 
of the women the Princess Tara would be lost. 


A RISK FOR LOVE 


34 ? 


They know 0-Tar ’s intention of taking her to wife 
and making her Jeddara of Manator, so you may 
rest assured that they all hate her with the hate of 
jealous women. Only 0-Tar’s power protects her 
now from harm. Should 0-Tar die they would turn 
her over to the warriors and the male slaves, for 
there would be none to avenge her.” 

Gahan sheathed his sword. ‘‘Your point is well 
taken; but what shall we do with him?” 

“Leave him where he lies,” counseled I-Gos. 
“He is not dead. When he revives he will return 
to his quarters with a fine tale of his bravery and 
there will be none to impugn his boasts — none but 
I-Gos. Come! he may revive at any moment and 
he must not find us here.” 

I-Gos crossed to the body of his jeddak, knelt be- 
side it for an instant, and then returned past the 
couch to Gahan. The two quit the cham- 
ber of O-Mai and took, their way toward the spiral 
runway. Here I-Gos led Gahan to a higher level 
and out upon the roof of that portion of the palace 
from where he pointed to a high tower quite close 
by. “ There,” he said, “ lies the Princess of Helium, 
and quite safe she will be until the time of the 
ceremony.” 

“ Safe, possibly, from other hands, but not from 
her own,” said Gahan. “ She will never become 
Jeddara of Manator —first will she destroy herself.” 

“ She would do that ? ” asked I-Gos. 


348 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


** She will, unless you can get word to her that I 
still live and that there is yet hope,” replied Gahan. 

‘‘I cannot get word to her,” said I-Gos. ‘'The 
quarters of his women O-Tar guards with jealous 
hand. Here are his most trusted slaves and war- 
riors, yet even so, thick among them are countless 
spies, so that no man knows which be which. No 
shadow falls within those chambers that is not 
marked by a hundred eyes.” 

Gahan stood gazing at the lighted windows of the 
high tower in the upper chambers of which Tara 
of Helium was confined. “ I will find a way, I-Gos/^ 
he said. 

“ There is no way,” replied the old man. 

For some time they stood upon the roof beneath 
the brilliant stars and hurtling moons of dying Mars, 
laying their plans against the time that Tara of 
Helium should be brought from the high tower to 
the throne room of O-Tar. It was then, and then 
alone, argued I-Gos, that any hope of rescuing her 
might be entertained. Just how far he might trust 
the other Gahan did not know, and so he kept to 
himself the knowledge of the plan that he had for- 
warded to Floran and Val Dor by Ghek, but he 
assured the ancient taxidermist that if he were sin- 
cere in his oft-repeated declaration that O-Tar 
should be denounced and superseded he would have 
his opportunity on the night that the jeddak sought 
to wed the Heliumetic princess. 


A RISK FOR LOVE 


349 


“Your time shall come then, I-Gos,” Gahan as- 
sured the other, “and if you have any party that 
thinks as you do, prepare them for the eventuality 
that will succeed 0-Tar’s presumptuous attempt to 
wed the daughter of The Warlord. Where shall I 
see you again, and when? I go now to speak with 
Tara, Princess of Helium.” 

“I like your boldness,” said I-Gos; “but it will’ 
avail you naught. You will not speak with Tara, 
Princess of Helium, though doubtless the blood of 
many Manatorians will drench the floors of the 
women’s quarters before you are slain.” 

Gahan smiled. “ I shall not be slain. Where and 
when shall we meet? But you may find me in 
O-Mai’s chamber at night. That seems the safest 
retreat in all Manator for an enemy of the ieddak 
in whose palace it lies. I go ! ” 

“ And may the spirits of your ancestors surround 
you,” said I-Gos. 

After the old man had left him Gahan made his 
way across the roof to the high tower, which ap- 
peared to have been constructed of concrete and 
afterward elaborately carved, its entire surface being 
covered with intricate designs cut deep into the 
stone-like material of which it was composed. 
Though wrought ages since, it was but little 
weather-worn owing to the aridity of the Martian 
atmosphere, the infrequency of rains, and the rarity 
of dust storms. To scale it, though, presented dif- 


350 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


ficulties and danger that might have deterred the 
bravest of men — that would, doubtless, have de- 
terred Gahan, had he not felt that the life of the 
woman he loved depended upon his accomplishing 
the hazardous feat. 

Removing his sandals and laying aside all of his 
harness and weapons other than a single belt sup- 
porting a dagger, the Gatholian essayed the danger- 
ous ascent. Clinging to the carvings with hands and 
feet he worked himself slowly aloft, avoiding the 
windows and keeping upon the shadowy side of the 
tower, away from the light of Thuria and Cluros. 
The tower rose some fifty feet above the roof of 
the adjacant part of the palace, comprising five 
levels or floors with windows looking in every di- 
rection. A few of the windows were balconied, and 
these more than the others he sought to avoid, al- 
though, k being now near the close of the ninth 
zode, there was little likelihood that many were 
'awake within the tower. 

His progress was noiseless and he came at last, 
undetected, to the windows of the upper level. 
These, like several of the others he had passed at 
lower levels, were heavily barred, so that there was 
no possibility of his gaining ingress to the apart- 
ment where Tara was confined. Darkness hid the 
interior behind the first window that he approached. 
The second opened upon a lighted chamber where 
he could see a guard sleeping at his post outside a 


^ RISK FOR LOVE 


351 ' 


door. Here also was the top of the runway leading 
to the next level below. Passing still farther around 
the tower Gahan approached another window, but 
now he clung to that side of the tower which ended 
in a courtyard a hundred feet below and in a short 
time the light of Thuria would reach him. He real-^ 
ked that he must hasten and he prayed that behind 
the window he now approached he would find Tara) 
of Helium. 

Coming to the opening he looked in upon a small 
chamber dimly lighted. In the center was a sleep- 
ing dais upon which a human form lay beneath 
silks and furs. A bare arm, protruding from the 
coverings, lay exposed against a black and yellow 
striped orluk skin — an arm of wondrous beauty 
about which was clasped an armlet that Gahan knew. 
No other creature was visible within the chamber, 
all of which was exposed to Gahan’s view. Press- 
ing his face to the bars the Gatholian whispered 
her dear name. The girl stirred, but did not 
awaken. Again he called, but this time louder. 
Tara sat up and looked about and at the same 
instant a huge eunuch leaped to his feet from where 
he had been lying on the floor close by that side 
of the dais farthest from Gahan. Simultaneously ‘ 
the brilliant light of Thuria flashed full upon the 
window where Gahan clung silhouetting him plainly 
to the two within. 

Both sprang to thei/ feet. The eunuch drew his 


352 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


sword and leaped for the window where the helpless 
Gahan would have fallen an easy victim to a single 
thrust of the murderous weapon the fellow bore, 
had not Tara of Helium leaped upon her guard 
dragging him back. At the same time she drew the 
slim dagger from its hiding place in her harness and 
even as the eunuch sought to hurl her aside its keen 
point found his heart. Without a sound he died 
and lunged forward to the floor. Then Tara ran 
to the window. 

“Turan, my chief!” she cried. ‘‘What awful 
risk is this you take to seek me here, where even 
your brave heart is powerless to aid me.” 

“ Be not so sure of that, heart of my heart,” he 
replied. “While I bring but words to my love, 
they be the forerunner of deeds, I hope, that will 
give her back to me forever. I feared that you 
might destroy yourself, Tara of Helium, to escape 
the dishonor that 0-Tar would do you, and so 
I came to give you new hope and to beg that you 
live for me through whatever may transpire, in the 
knowledge that there is yet a way and that if all 
goes well we shall be freed at last. Look for me 
in the throne room of O-Tar the night that he would 
wed you. And now, how may we dispose of this 
fellow ? ” He pointed to the dead eunuch upon the 
floor. 

“We need not concern ourselves about that,” she 
replied. “None dares harnr me for fear of the 


A RISK FOR LOVE 


3531 


wrath of O-Tar — otherwise I should have been 
dead so soon as ever I entered this portion of the 
palace, for the women hate me, O-Tar alone may 
punish me, and what cares O-Tar for the life of a 
eunuch? No, fear not upon this score.” 

Their hands were clasped between the bars and 
now Gahan drew her nearer to him. 

‘‘One kiss,” he said, “before I go, my princess,” 
and the proud daughter of Dejah Thoris, Princess 
of Helium, and The Warlord of Barsoom whis- 
pered : “ My chieftain ! ” and pressed her lips to the 
lips of Turan, the common panthan. 


CHAPTER XXII 


AT THI^ MOM^T 0^ MARRIAGE 

T he silence of the tomb lay heavy about him 
as O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, opened his 
eyes in the chamber of O-Mai. Recollection of the 
frightful apparition that had confronted him swept 
to his consciousness. He listened, but heard naught. 
Within the range of his vision there was nothing ap- 
parent that might cause alarm. Slowly he lifted his 
head and looked about. Upon the floor beside the 
couch lay the thing that had at first attracted his 
attention and his eyes closed in terror as he recog- 
nized it for what it was; but it moved not, nor 
spoke. O-Tar opened his eyes again and rose to 
his feet. He was trembling in every limb. There 
was nothing on the dais from which he had seen 
the thing arise. 

O-Tar backed slowly from the room. At last he 
gained the outer corridor. It was empty. He did 
not know that it had emptied rapidly as the loud 
scream with which his own had mingled had broken 
upon the startled ears of the warriors who had been 
sent to spy upon him. He looked at the timepiece 
set in a massive bracelet upon his left forearm. The 
ninth zode was nearly half gone. O-Tar had lain 
354 


’AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE -355 


for an hour unconscious. He had spent an hour in 
the chamber of O-Mai and he was not dead! He 
had looked upon the face of his predecessor and 
was still sane! He shook himself and smiled. 
Rapidly he subdued his rebelliously shaking nerves, 
so that by the time he reached the tenanted portion 
of the palace he had gained control of himself. 
He walked with chin high and something of a 
swagger. To the banquet hall he went, knowing 
that his chiefs awaited him there and as he entered 
they arose and upon the faces of many were in- 
credulity and amaze, for they had not thought to 
see O-Tar the jeddak again after what the spies had 
told them of the horrid sounds issuing from the 
chambers of O-Mai. Thankful was O-Tar that he 
had gone alone to that chamber of fright, for now 
no one could deny the tale that he should tell. 

E-Thas rushed forward to greet him, for E-Thas 
had seen black looks directed toward him as the 
tals slipped by and his benefactor failed to return. 

O brave and glorious jeddak! ” cried the major- 
domo. ‘‘We rejoice at your safe return and beg 
of you the story of your adventure.” 

“It was naught,” exclaimed O-Tar. “I searched 
the chambers carefully and waited in hiding for the 
return of the slave, Turan, if he were temporarily 
away; but he came not. He is not there and I 
doubt if he ever goes there. Few men would choose 
to remain long in such a dismal place.” 


356 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


“ You were not attacked ? ” asked E-Thas. “ You 
heard no screams, nor moans?” 

‘‘ I heard hideous noises and saw phantom figures ; 
but they fled before me so that never could I lay 
hold of one, and I looked upon the face of O-Mai 
and I am not mad. I even rested in the chamber 
beside his corpse.” 

In a far corner of the room a bent and wrinkled 
old man hid a smile behind a golden goblet of strong 
brew. 

‘‘ Come ! Let us drink ! ” cried 0-Tar and reached 
for the dagger, the pommel of which he was accus- 
tomed to use to strike the gong which summoned 
slaves, but the dagger was not in its scabbard. 
O-Tar was puzzled. He knew that it had been 
there just before he entered the chamber of O-Mai, 
for he had carefully felt of all his weapons to make 
sure that none was missing. He seized instead a 
table utensil and struck the gong, and when the 
slaves came bade them bring the strongest brew for 
O-Tar and his chiefs. Before the dawn broke many 
were the expressions of admiration bellowed from 
drunken lips — admiration for the courage of their 
jeddak; but some there were who still looked glum. 

Came at last the day that O-Tar would take the 
Princess Tara of Helium to wife. For hours slaves 
prepared the unwilling bride. Seven perfumed baths 
occupied three long and weary hours, then her whole 


AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE 357 


body was anointed with the oil of pimalia blossoms 
and massaged by the deft fingers of a slave from 
distant Dusar. Her harness, all new and wrought 
for th& occasion, was of the white hide of the great 
white apes of Barsoom, hung heavily with platinum 
and diamonds — fairly encrusted with them. The 
glossy mass of her jet hair had been built into a! 
coiffure of stately and becoming grandeur, into 
which diamond-headed pins were stuck until the 
whole scintillated as the stars in heaven upon a 
moonless night. 

But it was a sullen and defiant bride that they led 
from the high tower toward the throne room of 
O-Tar. The corridors were filled with slaves and 
warriors, and the women of the palace and the city 
who had been commanded to attend the ceremony. 
All the power and pride, wealth and beauty of 
Manator were there. 

Slowly Tara, surrounded by a heavy guard of 
honor, moved along the marble corridors filled with 
people. At the entrance to The Hall of Chiefs 
E-Thas, the major-domo, received her. The Hall 
was empty except for its ranks of dead chieftains 
upon their dead mounts. Through this long cham- 
ber E-Thas escorted her to the throne room which 
also was empty, the marriage ceremony in Manator 
differing from that of other countries of Barsoom. 
Here the bride would await the groom at the foot 
of the steps leading to the throne. The guests fol- 


358 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


lowed her in and took their places, leaving the central 
aisle from The Hall of Chiefs to the throne clear, 
for up this O-Tar would approach his bride alone 
after a short solitary communion with the dead be- 
hind closed doors in The Hall of Chiefs. It was 
the custom. 

The guests had all filed through The Hall of 
Chiefs; the doors at both ends had been closed. 
Presently those at the lower end of the hall opened 
and O-Tar entered. His black harness was orna- 
mented with rubies and gold; his face was covered 
by a grotesque mask of the precious metal in which 
two enormous rubies were set for eyes, though below 
them were narrow slits through which the wearer 
could see. His crown was a fillet supporting carved 
feathers of the same metal as the mask. To the 
least detail his regalia was that demanded of a 
royal bridegroom by the customs of Manator, and 
now in accordance with that same custom he came 
alone to The Hall of Chiefs to receive the blessings 
and the council of the great ones of Manator who 
had preceded him. 

As the doors at the lower end of the Hall closed 
behind him O-Tar the Jeddak stood alone with the 
great dead. By the dictates of ages no mortal eye 
might look upon the scene enacted within that sacred 
chamber. As the mighty of Manator respected the 
traditions of Manator, let us, too, respect those 
traditions of a proud and sensitive people. Of what 


AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE 359 


concern to us the happenings in that solemn chamber 
of the dead? 

Five minutes passed. The bride stood silently 
at the foot of the throne. The guests spoke to- 
gether in low whispers until the room was filled with 
the hum of many voices. At length the doors lead- 
ing into The Hall of Chiefs swung open, and the 
resplendent bridegroom stood framed for a moment 
in the massive opening. A hush fell upon the wed- 
ding guests. With measured and impressive step 
the groom approached the bride. Tara felt the 
muscles of her heart contract with the apprehension 
that had been growing upon her as the coils of Fate 
settled more closely about her and no sign came 
from Turan. Where was he? What, indeed, could 
he accomplish now to save her ? Surrounded by the 
power of O-Tar with never a friend among them, 
her position seemed at last without vestige of hope. 

‘‘I still live!” she whispered inwardly in a last 
brave attempt to combat the terrible hopelessness 
that was overwhelming her, but her fingers stole for 
reassurance to the slim blade that she had managed 
to transfer, undetected, from her old harness to the 
new. And now the groom was at her side and tak- 
ing her hand was leading her up the steps to the 
throne, before which they halted and stood facing 
the gathering below. Came then, from the back of 
the room a procession headed by the high dignitary 
whose office it was to make these two man and wife, 


36 o the chessmen OF MARS 


and directly behind him a richly-clad youth bearing 
a silken pillow on which lay the golden handcuffs 
connected by a short length of chain-of-gold with 
which the ceremony would be concluded when the 
dignitary clasped a handcuff about the wrist of each 
symbolizing their indissoluble union in the holy 
bonds of wedlock. 

Would Turan’s promised succor come too late? 
Tara listened to the long, monotonous intonation 
of the wedding service. She heard the virtues of 
O-Tar extolled and the beauties of the bride. The 
moment was approaching and still no sign of Turan. 
But what could he accomplish should he succeed in 
reaching the throne room, other than to die with 
her? There could be no hope of rescue. 

The dignitary lifted the golden handcuffs from 
the pillow upon which they reposed. He blessed 
them and reached for Tara’s wrist. The time had 
come ! The thing could go no further, for alive or 
dead, by all the laws of Barsoom she would be the 
wife of O-Tar of Manator the instant the two were 
locked together. Even should rescue come then 
or later she could never dissolve those bonds and 
Turan would be lost to her as surely as though 
death separated them. 

Her hand stole toward the hidden blade, but in- 
stantly the hand of the groom shot out and seized 
her wrist. He had guessed her intention. Through 
the slits in the grotesque mask she could see his 


: 4 T THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE 361 


eyes upon her and she guessed the sardonic smile 
that the mask hid. "For a tense moment the two 
stood thus. The people below them kept breathless 
silence for the play before the throne had not passed 
unnoticed. 

Dramatic as was the moment it was suddenly 
rendered trebly so by the noisy opening of the doors 
leading to The Hall of Chiefs. All eyes turned in 
the direction of the interruption to see another figure 
framed in the massive opening — a half-clad figure 
buckling the half-adjusted harness hurriedly in 
place — the figure of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator. 

‘‘ Stop ! ’’ he screamed, springing forward along 
the aisle toward the throne. “ Seize the impostor ! ’’ 

All eyes shot to the figure of the groom before 
the throne. They saw him raise his hand and 
snatch off the golden mask, and Tara of Helium in 
wide-eyed incredulity looked up into the face of 
Turan the panthan. 

“Turan, the slave,” they cried then. ‘‘Death to 
him ! Death to him ! ” 

“Wait!” shouted Turan, drawing his sword, as 
a dozen warriors leaped forward. 

“Wait!” .screamed another voice, old and 
cracked, as I-Gos, the ancient taxidermist, sprang 
from among the guests and reached the throne steps 
ahead of the foremost warriors. 

At sight of the old man the warriors paused, for 
age is held in great veneration among the peoples 


362 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


of Barsoom, as is true, perhaps, of all peoples whose 
religion is based to any extent upon ancestor wor- 
ship. But O-Tar gave no heed to him, leaping 
instead swiftly toward the throne. “ Stop, coward ! ” 
cried I-Gos. 

The people looked at the little old man in amaze- 
ment. ‘‘Men of Manator,” he cackled in his thin, 
shrill voice, ‘‘wouldst be ruled by a coward and a 
liar ? ’’ 

‘‘ Down with him ! shouted O-Tar. 

Not until I have spoken,” retorted I-Gos. It 
is my right. If I fail my life is forfeit — that you 
all know and I know. I demand therefore to be 
heard. It is my right ! ” 

“It is his right,” echoed the voices of a score 
of warriors in various parts of the chamber. 

“ That O-Tar is a coward and a liar I can prove,” 
continued I-Gos. “He said that he faced bravely 
the horrors of the chamber of O-Mai and saw noth- 
ing of the slave Turan. I was there, hiding behind 
the hangings, and I saw all that transpired. Turan 
had been hiding in the chamber and was even then 
lying upon the couch of O-Mai when O-Tar, trem- 
bling with fear, entered the room. Turan, disturbed, 
arose to a sitting position at the same time voicing 
a piercing shriek. O-Tar screamed and swooned.” 

“ It is a lie ! ” cried O-Tar. 

“ It is not a lie and I can prove it,” retorted I-Gos. 
“Didst notice the night that he returned from the 


^AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE 363 


chambers of 0-Mai and was boasting of his exploit, 
that when he would summon slaves to bring wine he 
reached for his dagger to strike the gong with its 
pommel as is always his custom? Didst note that, 
any of you? And that he had no dagger? O-Tar, 
where is the dagger that you carried into the cham- 
ber of 0-Mai? You do not know; but I know. 
While you lay in the swoon of terror I took it from 
your harness and hid it among the sleeping silks 
upon the couch of 0-Mai. There it is even now, and 
if any doubt it let them go thither and there they 
will find it and know the cowardice of their jeddak.” 

“But what of this impostor?” demanded one. 
“ Shall he stand with impunity upon the throne of 
Manator whilst we squabble about our ruler?” 

“ It is through his bravery that you have learned 
the cowardice of O-Tar,” replied I-Gos, “and 
through him you will be given a greater jeddak.” 

“ We will choose our own jeddak. Seize and slay 
the slave ! ” There were cries of approval from all 
parts of the room. Gahan was listening intently, as 
though for some hoped-for sound. He saw the 
warriors approaching the dais, where he now stood 
with drawn sword and with one arm about Tara 
of Helium. He wondered if his plans had miscar- 
ried after all. If they had it would mean death for 
him, and he knew that Tara would take her life if 
he fell Had he, then, served her so futilely after 
all his efforts? 


364 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Several warriors were urging the necessity for 
sending at once to the chamber of 0 -Mai to search 
for the dagger that would prove, if found, the cow- 
ardice of 0 -Tar. At last three consented to go. 

You need not fear,’' I-Gos assured them. ‘‘ There 
is naught there to harm you. I have been there 
often of late and Turan the slave has slept there 
for these many nights. The screams and moans 
that frightened you and O-Tar were voiced by 
Turan to drive you away from his hiding place.” 
Shamefacedly the three left the apartment to search 
for O-Tar’ s dagger. 

And now the others turned their attention once 
more to Gahan. They approached the throne with 
bared swords, but they came slowly for they had 
seen this slave upon the Field of Jetan and they 
knew the prowess of his arm. They had reached 
the foot of the steps when from far above there 
sounded a deep boom, and another, and another, 
and Turan smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. 
Perhaps, after all, it had not come too late. The 
warriors stopped and listened as did the others in 
the chamber. Now there broke upon their ears a 
loud rattle of musketry and it all came from above 
as though men were fighting upon the roofs of the 
palace. 

“What is it?” they demanded, one of the other. 

“ A great storm has broken over Manator,” said 
one. 


^AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE 365 


‘‘Mind not the storm until you have slain the 
creature who dares stand upon the throne of your 
jeddak,” demanded O-Tar. “ Seize him ! '' 

Even as he ceased speaking the arras behind the 
throne parted and a warrior stepped forth upon 
the dais. An exclamation of surprise and dismay 
broke from the lips of the warriors of O-Tar. 
“U-Thor!"’ they cried. “What treason is this?” 

“ It is no treason,” said U-Thor in his deep voice. 
“ I bring you a new jeddak for all of Manator. No 
lying poltroon, but a courageous man whom you all 
love.” 

He stepped aside then and another emerged from 
the corridor hidden by the arras. It was A-Kor,, 
and at sight of him there rose exclamations of sur- 
prise, of pleasure, and of anger, as the various fac- 
tions recognized the coup d'etat that had been 
arranged so cunningly. Behind A-Kor came other 
warriors until the dais was crowded with them — all 
men of Manator from the city of Manatos. 

O-Tar was exhorting his warriors to attack, when 
a bloody and disheveled padwar burst into the cham- 
ber through a side entrance. “ The city has fallen ! ” 
he cried aloud. “The hordes of Manatos pour 
through The Gate of Enemies. The slaves from 
Gathol have arisen and destroyed the palace guards. 
Great ships are landing warriors upon the palace 
roof and in the Fields of Jetan. The men of Helium 
and Gathol are marching through Manator. They 


366 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


cry aloud for the Princess of Helium and swear to 
leave Manator a blazing funeral pyre consuming 
the bodies of all our people. The skies are black 
with ships. They come in great processions from 
the east and from the south.” 

And then once more the doors from The Hall of 
Chiefs swung wide and the men of Manator turned 
to see another figure standing upon the threshold — 
a mighty figure of a man with white skin, and black 
hair, and gray eyes that glittered now like points of 
steel and behind him The Hall of Chiefs was filled 
with fighting men wearing the harness of far coun- 
tries. Tara of Helium saw him and her heart leaped 
in exultation, for it was John Carter, Warlord of 
Barsoom, come at the head of a victorious host to 
the rescue of his daughter, and at his side was Djor 
Kantos to whom she had been betrothed. 

The Warlord eyed the assemblage for a moment 
before he spoke. ‘‘Lay down your arms, men of 
Manator,” he said. “I see my daughter and that 
she lives, and if no harm has befallen her no blood 
need be shed. Your city is filled with the fighting 
men of U-Thor, and those from Gathol and from 
Helium. The palace is in the hands of the slaves 
from Gathol, beside a thousand of my own warriors 
who fill the halls and chambers surrounding this 
room. The fate of your jeddak lies in your own 
hands. I have no wish to interfere. I come only 
for my daughter and to free the slaves from Gathol. 


AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE 3 ^ 


I have spoken!’’ and without waiting for a reply 
and as though the room had been filled with his 
own people rather than a hostile band he strode u^p 
the broad main aisle toward Tara of Helium. 

The chiefs of Manator were stunned. They 
looked to 0-Tar; but he could only gaze helplessly 
about him as the enemy entered from The Hall of 
Chiefs and circled the throne room until they had 
surrounded the entire company. And then a dwar 
of the army of Helium entered. 

“We have captured three chiefs,” he reported 
to The Warlord, “ who beg that they be permitted 
to enter the throne room and report to their fellows 
some matter which they say will decide the fate 
of Manator.” 

“ Fetch them,” ordered The Warlord. 

They came, heavily guarded, to the foot of the 
steps leading to the throne and there they stopped 
and the leader turned toward the others of Manator 
and raising high his right hand displayed a jeweled 
dagger. “We found it,” he said, “even where 
I-Gos said that we would find it,” and he looked 
menacingly upon O-Tar. 

“ A-Kor, Jeddak of Manator!” cried a voice, and 
the cry was taken up by a hundred hoarse-throated 
warriors. 

“ There can be but one jeddak in Manator,” said 
the chief who held the dagger; his eyes still fixed 
upon the hapless O-Tar he crossed to where the 


THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 

Matter stood and holding the dagger upon an out- 
stretched palm proffered it to the discredited ruler. 
‘‘There can be but one jeddak in Manator,” he re- 
peated meaningly. 

O-Tar took the proffered blade and drawing him- 
self to his full height plunged it to the guard into 
his breast, in that single act redeeming himself in 
the esteem of his people and winning an eternal 
place in The Hall of Chiefs. 

As he fell all was silence in the great room, to 
be broken presently by the voice of U-Thor. 
“ O-Tar is dead ! ” he cried. “ Let A-Kor rule until 
the chiefs of all Manator may be summoned to 
choose a new jeddak. What is your answer?” 

“ Let A-Kor rule ! A-Kor, Jeddak of Manator ! ” 
The cries filled the room and there was no dissent- 
ing voice. 

A-Kor raised his sword for silence. “It is the 
will of A-Kor,” he said, “and that of the Great 
Jed of Manatos, and the commander of the fleet 
from Gathol, and of the illustrious John Carter, 
Warlord of Barsoom, that peace lie upon the city 
of Manator and so I decree that the men of 
Manator go forth and welcome the fighting men 
of these our allies as guests and friends and 
show them the wonders of our ancient city and the 
hospitality of Manator. I have spoken.” And 
U-Thor and John Carter dismissed their warriors 
and bade them accept the hospitality of Manator. 


AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE 369 


As the room emptied Djor Kantos reached the side 
of Tara of Helium. The girl’s happiness at rescue 
had been blighted by sight of this man whom her 
virtuous heart told her she had wronged. She 
dreaded the ordeal that lay before her and the dis- 
honor that she must admit before she could hope 
to be freed from the understanding that had for long 
existed between them. And now Djor Kantos ap- 
proached and kneeling raised her fingers to his lips. 

“Beautiful daughter of Helium,” he said, “how 
may I tell you the thing that I must tell you — of 
the dishonor that I have all unwittingly done you? 
I can but throw myself upon your generosity for 
forgiveness; but if you demand it I can receive the 
dagger as honorably as did O-Tar.” 

“What do you mean?” asked Tara of Helium. 
“What are you talking about — why speak thus in 
riddles to one whose heart is already breaking?” 

Her heart already breaking ! The outlook was 
anything but promising, and the young padwar 
wished that he had died before ever he had had to 
speak the words he now must speak. 

“ Tara of Helium,” he continued, “ we all thought 
you dead. For a long year have you been gone 
from Helium. I mourned you truly and then, less 
than a moon since, I wed with Olvia Marthis.” He 
stopped and looked at her with eyes that might have 
said : “ Now, strike me dead ! ’’ 

“Oh, foolish man!” cried Tar^. “Nothing you 


370 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 

could have done could have pleased me more. Djor 
Kantos, I could kiss you!” 

“ I do not think that Olvia Marthis would mind,” 
he said, his face now wreathed with smiles. As 
they spoke a body of men had entered the throne 
room and approached the dais. They were tall men 
trapped in plain harness, absolutely without orna- 
mentation. Just as their leader reached the dais 
Tara had turned to Gahan, motioning him to join 
them. 

Djor Kantos,” she said, “ I bring you Turan the 
panthan, whose loyalty and bravery have won my 
love.” 

John Carter and the leader of the new come war- 
riors, who were standing near, looked quickly at the 
little group. The former smiled an inscrutable 
smile, the latter addressed the Princess of Helium. 
‘‘ ‘ Turan the panthan!’” he cried. ‘‘Know you 
not, fair daughter of Helium, that this man you call 
panthan is Gahan, Jed of Gathol?” 

For just a moment Tara of Helium looked her 
surprise; and then she shrugged her beautiful shoul- 
ders as she turned her head to cast her eyes over 
one of them at Gahan of Gathol. 

“Jed or panthan,” she said; “what difference 
does it make what one’s slave has been?” and she 
laughed roguishly into the smiling face of her lover. 

His story finished, John Carter rose from the 


AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE 371 


chair opposite me, stretching his giant frame like 
some great forest-bred lion. 

“You must go?” I cried, for I hated to see him 
leave and it seemed that he had been with me but 
a moment. 

“The sky is already red beyond those beautiful 
hills of yours,” he replied, “and it will soon be 
day.” 

“Just one question before you go,” I begged. 

“ Well ? ” he assented, good-naturedly. 

“ How was Gahan able to enter the throne room 
garbed in 0 -Tar’s trappings?” I asked. 

“It was simple — for Gahan of Gathol,” replied 
The Warlord. “With the assistance of I-Gos he 
crept into The Hall of Chiefs before the ceremony, 
while the throne room and Hall of Chiefs were va- 
cated to receive the bride. He came from the pits 
through the corridor that opened behind the arras 
at the rear of the throne, and passing into The Hall 
of Chiefs took his place upon the back of a rider- 
less thoat, whose warrior was in I-Gos’ repair room. 
When O-Tar entered and came near him Gahan fell 
upon him and struck him with the butt of a heavy 
spear. He thought that he had killed him and was 
surprised when O-Tar appeared to denounce him.” 

“And Ghek? What became of Ghek?” I in- 
sisted. 

“After leading Val Dor and Floran to Tara’s dis- 
abled llier, which they repaired, he accompanied 


372 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


them to Gathol, from where a message was sent to 
me in Helium. He then led a large party including 
A-Kor and U-Thor from the roof, where our ships 
landed them, down a spiral runway into the palace 
and guided them to the throne room. We took him 
back to Helium with us, where he still lives, with 
his single rykor which we found all but starved to 
death in the pits of Manator. But come ! No more 
questions now.’’ 

I accompanied him to the east arcade where the 
red dawn was glowing beyond the arches. 

‘‘Good-bye!” he said. 

“I carl scarce believe that it is really you,” I 
exclaimed. “Tomorrow I will be sure that I have 
dreamed all this.” 

He laughed and drawing his sword scratched a 
rude cross upon the concrete of one of the arches. 

“If you are in doubt tomorrow,” he said, “come 
and see if you dreamed this.” 

A moment later he was gone. 


JETAN, OR MARTIAN CHESS 

F or those who <vare for such things, and would 
like to try the game, I give the rules of Jetan 
as they were given me by John Carter. By writ- 
ing the names and moves of the various pieces on 
bits of paper and pasting them on ordinary checker- 
men the game may be played quite as well as with 
the ornate pieces used upon Mars. 

THE BOARD: Square board consisting of one 
hundred alternate black and orange squares. 

THE PIECES: In order, as they stand upon 
the board in the first row, from left to right of 
each player. 

Warrior: 2 feathers; 2 spaces straight in any 
direction or combination. 

Padwqr: 2 feathers; 2 spaces diagonal in any 
direction or combination. 

Dwar: 3 feathers; 3 spaces straight in any di- 
rection or combination. 

Flier: 3 bladed propellor; 3 spaces diagonal in 
any direction or combination; and may jump inter- 
vening pieces. 

Chiefs Diadem with ten jewels; 3 spaces in any 
direction; straight or diagonal or combination. 

373 




374 THE CHESSMEN OF MARS 


Prindess: Diadem with one jewel; same as 
Chief, except may jump intervening pieces. 

Flier: See above. 

Dwar: See above. 

Padwar: See above. 

Warrior: See above. 

And in the second row from left to right : 

Thoat: Mounted warrior 2 feathers; 2 spaces, 
one straight and one diagonal in any direction. 

Panthans (8 of them) : i feather; i space, for- 
ward, side, or diagonal, but not backward. 

Thoat: See above. 

The game is played with twenty black pieces by 
one player and twenty orange by his opponent, and 
is presumed to have originally represented a battle 
between the Black race of the south and the Yellow 
race of the north. On Mars the board is usually 
arranged so that the Black pieces are played from 
the south and the Orange from the north. 

The game is won when any piece is placed on 
same square with opponent’s Princess, or a Chief 
takes a Chief. 

The game is drawn when either Chief is taken 
by a piece other than the opposing Chief, or when 
both sides are reduced to three pieces, or less, of 
equal value and the game is not won in the ensuing 
ten moves, five apiece. 

The Princess may not move onto a threatened 
square, nor may she take an opposing piece. She 


JETAN, OR MARTIAN CHESS 375 


is entitled to one ten-space move at any time during 
the game. This move is called the escape. 

Two pieces may not occupy the same square ex- 
cept in the final move of a game where the Princess 
is taken. 

When a player, moving properly and in order, 
places one of his pieces upon a square occupied by 
an opponent piece, the opponent piece is considered 
to have been killed and is removed from the game. 

The moves explained. Straight moves mean due 
north, south, east, or west; diagonal moves mean 
northeast, southeast, southwest, or northwest. A 
Dwar might move straight north three spaces, or 
north one space and east two spaces, or any similar 
combination of straight moves, so long as he did 
not cross the same square twice in a single move. 
This example explains combination moves. 

The first move may be decided in any way that 
is agreeable to both players ; after the first game the 
winner of the preceding game moves first if he 
chooses, or may instruct his opponent to make the 
first move. 

Gambling: The Martians gamble at Jetan in sev- 
eral ways. Of course the outcome of the game in* 
dicates to whom the main stake belongs; but they 
also put a price upon the head of each piece, accord- 
ing to its value, and ^or each piece that a player 
loses he pays its value to his oppone^Tt 


NO'ml OF Edgar Rice Burroughs 

May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosser & Dunlap’s list. 


Burroughs ranks today as one of the most widely read of liv- 
ing authors. 


THE FAMOUS TARZAN BOOKS 


Tarzan of the Apes 
The Return of Tarzan 
The Beasts of Tarzan 
The Son of Tarzan 
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar 
Jungle Tales of Tarzan 
Tarzan the Untamed 
Tarzan the Terrible 


Tarzan and the Golden Lion 
Tarzan and the Ant Men 
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle 
Tarzan and the Lost Empire 
Tarzan at the Earth’s Core 
Tarzan, the Invincible 
Tarzan Triumphant 
Tarzan and the City of Gold 


Tarzan and the Lion Man 


OTHER STORIES OF ADVENTURE 


The War Chief 
The Cave Girl 
The Mucker 
Pellucidar 
The Monster Men 
The Outlaw of Torn 


The Eternal Lover 

At the Earth’s Core 

The Land That Time Forgot 

Tanar of Pellucidar 

Jungle Girl 

Apache Devil 


THE MARVELOUS MARTIAN STORIES 


A Princess of Mars 
The Gods of Mars 
The Warlord of Mars 
Thuvia, Maid of Mars 


The Chessmen of Mars 
The Master Mind of Mars 
A Fighting Man of Mars 
Pirates of Venus 


GROSSET & DUNLAP 


Publishers 


NEW YORK 


Zane Grey s Thrilling Novels 

May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosser & Dunlap’s list. 


Zane Grey has lived the rugged life he writes about in 
his books. The wild fierce blood of Indian chiefs flows in 
his veins. All his stories are splendidly American, thrill- 
ing, romantic, packed with action and color. 


Code of the West 

The Call of the Canyon 

Robber’s Roost 

The Hash Knife Outfit 

Drift Fence 

To the Last Man 

Arizona Ames 

The Mysterious Rider 

Sunset Pass 

The Man of the Forest 

The Shepherd of 

The U-P Trail 

Guadaloupe 

Fighting Caravans 

Wild Horse Mesa 

Wildfire 

The Border Legion 

Nevada 

The Rainbow Trail 

Forlorn River 

The Heritage of the Desert 

Under the Tonto Rim 

Riders of the Purple Sage 

The Vanishing American 

Light of Western Stars 

Tappan’s Burro 

The Thundering Herd 

Wanderer of the 

The Lone Star Ranger 

Desert Gold 

Wasteland 

Betty Zane 


GROSSET & DUNLAP Publishers NEW YORK 


Charles Alden Seltzer’s 
Novels of the West 


May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosser & Dunlap’s list. 


Seltzer himself used to punch cows and ride the ranges with 
just such chaps as he writes about in the stories. That’s why 
his cowboy yarns are real, full of lightning action, reckless 
courage and romance. 

WEST OF APACHE PASS 

CLEAR THE TRAIL 

DOUBLE CROSS RANCH 

A SON OF ARIZONA 

THE RED BRAND 

LONESOME RANCH 

THE MESA 

MYSTERY RANGE 

THE LAND OF THE FREE 

WAR ON WISHBONE RANGE 

THE GENTLEMAN FROM VIRGINIA 

BRASS COMMANDMENTS 

WTST! 

THE BOSS OF LAZY Y 
DRAG HARLAN 
LAST HOPE RANCH 
SQUARE DEAL SANDERSON 
THE VALLEY OF THE STARS 


GROSSET & DUNLAP 

Publishers 

NEW YORK 



A SELECTED LIST OF THRILLING 

WESTERN NOVELS 

By outstanding authors of recent years 

May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosser & Dunlap’s list. 


CODE OF THE WEST Zane Grey 

WEST OF THE APACHE PASS . . . .Charles Alden Selt2er 

PARADISE RANGE George Johnson 

DRY-GULCH ADAMS Peter Field 

THE TRAIL OF DANGER William MacLeod Raine 

MONTANA RIDES AGAIN Evan Evans 

RIFLED GOLD W. C. Tuttle 

TEXAS SHERIFF Edward Cunningham 

RENEGADE RIDERS Claude Rister 

RIDERS OF THE CHAPARRAL George B. Rodney 

VALLEY OF ADVENTURE Jackson Gregory 

THE WHOOP-UP TRAIL B. M. Bower 

THIRSTY RANGE E. B. Mann 

SILVER RIVER RANCH L. A. Keating 

HELL-CRAZY RANCH Francis Hilton 


GROSSET & DUNLAP Publishers NEW YORK 


GREAT NOVELS OF ADVENTURE 

by RAFAEL SABATINl' 

May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosser & Dunlap’s list. 


As with Joseph Conrad, English is his adopted tongue. The 
son of itinerant opera-singers, he was born in Italy. Educated 
in Portugal and Switzerland, he now lives in London. He has j 
rescued the historical novel from the literary dust-bin and 
wears with elegance and grace the inherited mantle of Dumas. ^ 
His pages are bright with the flash of cutlass and rapier. His j 
chapters are alive with marching men and painted pirate ships, j 

VENETIAN MASQUE 

THE STALKING HORSE j 

THE BLACK SWAN ^ 

CAPTAIN BLOOD RETURNS 
THE ROMANTIC PRINCE I 

SCARAMOUCHE THE KING-MAKER i 

THE CAROUNIAN 
THE BANNER OF THE BULL 
CAPTAIN BLOOD 
THE SEA HAWK 
SCARAMOUCHE 


GROSSET & DUNLAP Publishers NEW YORK 









•^- '" ^ ^ “r ^V' ” ^ ' 

\. ^ .^jr , A'^ ^ 


. .rr ' / . 





'-C ~ J -/* 

y * o . ri^ ^ 

^ .0 s* 0 ^ '^- 9 1 ' “ 


o -i- ., ^ o ^ 

^c* \- ^ / 


/;. '*' ') N 0 




, , , '</- .v' 

•A-W-- 




V 


V 1 ' N ' /y V * 

•\ <i- '<• 


/W: 




> ^ 


. \. ,/> ^ .' y . 



■ O' ' 

L' => 




X 


X 


0 

A •/'. 




. 0 C- 

\ X. . ^ 

-, ,• / , ~‘-<yiA/' ' M C- ' .- O’ 

* 9 1 ' y ^ / ^’t-^ * •. S 0 ' V ^ 

,v’ '"V’ 




- "5^'. 

H I 


cK <• 

■y 


- X.vX '.’. ; A “i- -■ /Alife : X- A - i X X 

'%i^''y V^i.y 

y'" A ' ^ * / , Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 

^ ^ ' A\^ " Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 


>., '"'Vb'"’* 

,x '" ■ 


/ yf- 


■ Vj-' 


: O'.. 


ueacioiTieo using me tsooKKeeper proc 
Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: 


yO q 




"/• » ■’ V <■ ' , \' 




PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIE 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Twp., PA 16066 
(412) 779-2111 

' o 'un 'Szcn wvi 




V ^ 


o 0 ^ : ^ ^ ^ 

0 c> 

_ . _ . . . - , - A 

•s. 


" v\\ 

, T. .V 


' - V* 


^ 8 , > " o' , ^ ^ « 

'\ ^ <, A 

</' ,< V 


W^A ‘ X 

^ir -' 'P 


A>‘ ’P^ 
vV 'P. 


/ 


VK-^'%\(i.y ^,0 

C-\' CX > . -^ ‘ V' 

» s* O VV V n ^ tf 1 \ \ ^ ^ I 

v\- 

*0 o -' '" ■'^ 

^\• <p 

^ ^ -i 

y ,. . -^ A> 

o'* O A >■ 


t> 

l> 

y 





■■' I' "S ‘ '- 

X \ c*' » ' ^ 

X 



y- 
y 

^ H \ s ^ ^ ^ V 0 

\r>^ 

^ <i <\ ^\* 


° ^ r . 

^ „\’^^' ’’'■p. = V'SS 




0 


"O o'^' - 

'^ 0 ^ : 

^ -VO 

jA ^ 



o* O //, \- ^ ' V 

^ ft '<^* -Vi 







